Links to digitised versions of handbell 78s

Where there are videos available, these are listed first, followed by links to webpages where audio is available but where the audio files cannot be embedded.
Only recordings of handbell ensembles are included in the book, though for reasons of historical importance I will also add specific solo handbell recordings.
  • Spliced Surprise Major
This is a rare record of handbell ringing recorded by the Bushey team in 1937. This copy is not one of the small number of original 1937-pressed copies but is one of 200 subsequent copies pressed from the original metalwork in 1961. The content is exactly the same.
  • Handbells of London: Lily of Kildare
This, from 1904, is the earliest-known handbell recording. It is a one-sided record, as was the norm until around 1908. The artist is not stated. Solo handbell records are not included in the discography, though this gets an honourable mention in a footnote somewhere or other as being the first known of type. It is a pre-electric 'acoustic' recording and the handbells sound a little 'odd' which is probably a limitation of this type of recording via a horn. That or the bells are fixed and struck with mallets. Or perhaps are not handbells at all!
This is an Australian pressing of the 1928 UK Columbia label release. The record is very badly worn but still worth a listen. Side 2 is not linked to because it did not feature handbells.