Was the French customer obliged to get Aeolian rolls from England
in 1925 ?

No.  French retailers did that for him, and he was given an Aeolian
catalog in French to choose from among hundreds of rolls he could
listen to at his local retailer in big towns in France (see "aeolian
vendeurs" image), or in Paris, at the Aeolian hall, where concerts
were also given (as Aeolian did in other capitals in Europe, and as
did other firms like Pleyel in Paris).

From 1904 on, advertisements in newspapers were so numerous that the
customer bought a lot of rolls, a reason why they are so plentiful
today!   (1904 is the oldest advert I have, maybe there were some
before.)

See the cover of "Catalogue de Musique pour Pianola et Pianola-Piano"
(the push-up player device and the player piano, respectively) of
October 1925, which indicates the concert hall address and the library
address.

The content is important: in the table of contents we discover in
the first and second points that music listed is "Edition anglaise"
(English edition), and points 4 and 5 are French editions printed on
pink pages (pages roses) in the catalog.  It is concerned especially
with dance music and piano part music.  No need to insist on the Ravel
music pages, whose references are the same as the English originals but
with French text.

Pages 144 and 145 show there is also classical music in the French
edition and draws your attention to a special type of numeration with
letter P before the number.

What about this series P?  Is it truly French Aeolian production?

More later on.

Lorraine Aressy
Perforons la musique Society
France