On a summer day in 1846 at London’s grand Egyptian Hall, Joseph Faber unveiled one of the strangest inventions to come out of the 19th century’s technological boom. For one shilling a head, spectators were ushered into a dimly lit back room to see the Euphonia, a machine that boasted the ability to replicate human speech.
Dazu ein Longread: Automating the sound. Ars combinatoria and mystical automata
(via Neatorama)