My new hobby is acquiring old books with lovely illustrations, scanning the illustrations at very high resolutions and uploading them to wikimedia commons with decent metadata.

The hobby started with this tin can telephone image

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fig_7_Le_Telephone_by_T_du_Moncel_Paris_1880_(Large).jpg

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File:Fig 7 Le Telephone by T du Moncel Paris 1880 (Large).jpg - Wikimedia Commons

This is apparently a phonautograph, built by Alexander Graham Bell inspired by actual human ear bones.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fig_13_The_Phonautograph_of_Clarence_John_Blake_(1880).jpg

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File:Fig 13 The Phonautograph of Clarence John Blake (1880).jpg - Wikimedia Commons

Here is a lady using one of the first Bell telephones

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ordinary_Bell_telephone_(1880).jpg

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File:Ordinary Bell telephone (1880).jpg - Wikimedia Commons

This engraving is from the same source, showing a chap using the same earpiece / mouthpieces as dual audio, before the invention of proper headphone straps.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fig_25_Gentleman_with_two_telephones_1880.jpg

#engraving #BenoîtBonnafoux #mastoart #art #artist #LineEngraving #publicdomain
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File:Fig 25 Gentleman with two telephones 1880.jpg - Wikimedia Commons

This engraving shows a lady with something like a theremin earpiece device. The same woman as in the 3/ but possibly a different artist. Note the similar hairstyle and different outfit.

Here the artist is Armand Kohl and someone called Gilbert who might have done the engraving

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fig_53_Experimental_telephone_earpiece.jpg

#engraving #ArmandKohl #mastoart #art #artist #LineEngraving #publicdomain

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File:Fig 53 Experimental telephone earpiece.jpg - Wikimedia Commons

Here we have a Charles Laplante engraving of a chap using one of Thomas Edison's phonographs, where you have to talk loudly into a mouthpiece attached to a stylus that cut a groove into a wax cylinder - whilst turning a handle to rotate the cylinder.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fig_99_Phonograph_in_use.jpg

#engraving #CharlesLaplante #mastoart #art #artist #LineEngraving #publicdomain

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File:Fig 99 Phonograph in use.jpg - Wikimedia Commons