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Museum of Portable Sound (museumofportablesound@toot.community)'s status on Saturday, 03-Jun-2023 04:50:33 JST Museum of Portable Sound

In the posthumously-published 1657CE sci-fi book 'The Other World: The Comical History of the States and Empires of the World of the Moon', French author Cyrano de Bergerac seemingly predicted the #phonograph (& #audiobooks) with a description of a sounding book used by inhabitants of the Moon.
#CyranoDeBergerac #SciFi
In conversation Saturday, 03-Jun-2023 04:50:33 JST from toot.community permalink
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1. A line drawing illustration of a 17th Century Frenchman leaning his right arm on a table with his hand up to his ear so as to aid in hearing the sound emitted from a large device on the table in front of him, a dome-shaped box containing a trumpet-like horn surrounded by mechanical gears and switches. A caption reads "Illstration from the 1910 edition by Albert Robida". A quote from an English translation of the original book reads: "...it was a Book made wholly for the Ears, and not the Eyes. So that when any Body has a mind to read in it, he winds up that Machine with a great many Strings; then he turns the Hand to the Chapter which he desires to hear, and straight, as from the Mouth of a Man, or a Musical Instrument, proceed all the distinct and different Sounds...” – Cyrano De Bergerac, 1657
  https://static.toot.community/media_attachments/files/110/474/781/147/241/806/original/062b140bfdfaa864.png

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