While digging in a file cabinet looking for something totally unrelated
to automatic music, I came across a copy of the QRS Dealers' Reference
Catalog dated June 30th, 1922.  It is a sizable book of 292 pages.

The catalog lists "some 10,500 different selections, both English and
Foreign".  While that is interesting in itself, the insert inside the
front cover offers even more insight into what was going on in the roll
business at that time.  I am quoting the insert in its entirety.  This
is listed under the title "Important Notice."

 - - -

  "For years we have had a catalog in which were listed over seven
thousand titles.  For years there have been more of these catalogs
circulated to the general public than there were player piano owners.
((Ed's note:  What a printing bill THAT must have been!))

  "Yet, with all those catalogs being circulated all those years,
95 percent of our sales covering a period of several years, has been
limited to approximately one thousand of the seven thousand titles
listed, and 60 percent of that business done was on titles listed in
the monthly bulletins, and those titles never did appear in the big
catalog.

  "Since the sales records and your orders show the one thousand titles
which you are continually selling and re-selling, we have arranged ten
classified bulletins of specially selected Player Roll bulletins and
will give the player piano owner the best selections in the music world
in their respective classes.  These ten classified bulletins are made
up in ten separate 8-page folders, for your use in distributing to the
player piano owners.

  "This catalog is for you reference, and is not to be distributed to
the buying public.  This catalog makes up the Q.R.S. Merchandising and
Purchasing Plan from which you may stock Player Rolls with absolute
assurance of your Player Roll Department being worth one hundred cents
on the dollar, as long as you remain in business.

  "The effective distribution of the ten 8-page folders or classified
bulletins to the player piano owners will mean more rolls sold per
player piano owner, and will also concentrate the attention of your
player roll customers on the stock you have on hand, which will mean
more frequent turn-over to you, and will enable you to give to your
player piano roll customers maximum service with minimum effort on your
part.  It will stimulate the sale of many beautiful standard numbers.

  "Can you imagine what we would be doing today if we were selling as
many beautiful standard numbers as we are of the popular hits?  Think
of how much more satisfaction there would be to the player piano owner,
how much it would enhance the value of the player piano in the minds
of the people who hear it, and how it would really increase the player
piano business, to have each player pianos owner's library contain well
selected titles from these ten lists.

  "A complete reference catalog of every number in Q. R. S. Player
Rolls is now available, for your reference only.

  THE Q.R.S MUSIC COMPANY
  306 South Wabash Ave.
  Chicago, Ill.

 - - -

Music rolls are listed by number and also alphabetically.  The categories
of rolls are:  Arranged, Hand Played and Word Roll.  The catalog further
states that the Reference Catalog lists the least called-for roll and is
to be used by dealers only.

Looks to me like QRS was trying to cut down on handling such a wide
variety of rolls.  Undoubtedly roll # WF6735 Ludziemowia zem szezesliwy
-- Dumka (Polish), was not going out the doors by the thousands!
My keyboard does not contain all the special characters necessary to
properly type that song title.  My apologies to anyone who speaks
Polish and reads this.  Obviously the QRS stencil machine DID have
those characters, as that is a word roll.

I have a copy of the rollography published in the AMICA bulletin in
1974.  There are gaps in the numbers.  Alas, the catalog has the same
gaps.  Anyone know what happened to those missing numbers?  Just
curious.

By the way,  on the first page inside the cover, the motto "Quality
Real Service" is printed.  There are other stories about where QRS
came from, and I like the one about the mail sorting case the best,
but the company was using that motto in 1922.

Ed Gaida
egaida@txdirect.net