[ Researcher Charles Davis Smith remarked in his Duo-Art rollography:
 [
 [   The United States AudioGraphic issues are, in most all instances,
 [   reissues of the similar series begun in England about 1926, but
 [   under their own number code.  They more closely match the second
 [   half of the English issues (the Popular series) which was
 [   inaugurated in November of 1927 concurrent with the United States
 [   issues.  Why one numbered series was not issued in both countries
 [   (as were other series) is not known.
 [
 [ I asked Julian Dyer of Player Piano Group (PPG) in UK for more
 [ information about this roll series and suggestions for organizing
 [ the list.  -- Robbie

It's rather amusing to see how these rolls have suddenly reached "most
wanted" status -- they used to actually fetch less money than normal
rolls because of the boring leader you had to run through first!

Although not exactly common, they aren't particularly rare, either.
I probably see more World's Music rolls in the UK than original 1920s
QRS rolls of Lawrence Cook (I have 38 all in all, counting both Duo-Art
and Pianola issues, and I do not collect them especially).  I think
the whole production ended up in Harrods' roll library and ended up in
collectors' hands in the 1960s when the library was cleared out.  A few
lucky UK eBay-ers are rubbing their hands with glee at the moment.

Although the series was termed "Audiographic", the word does not appear
anywhere on the UK rolls I have, which all say "The World's Music",
which is on catalogues, boxes and labels.  How are the American rolls
labelled?

I have here a variety of bits from the Reginald Reynolds collection,
part of the PPG's archive, and this includes an original launch glossy
with a folder of details of the dealer publicity scheme and with a list
of films made in the factory showing the rolls being made -- not that
we have the films themselves!

There is also a contemporary press cutting which describes our
Vice-President Yvonne Hinde-Smith being at the launch and turning on
the piano as a film played.  I also have a nice copy of a factory proof
of the first AudioGraphic catalogue.  These will be subject to a PPG
publication sometime later this year.  Sign up -- only UKP 15 a year!

Most of the rolls are listed in Charles Davis Smith's book, "Catalog
of Duo-Art Piano Rolls," although there are some biggish gaps, probably
unused numbers.  That said, I got one of these rolls in a recent
postbid and was surprised to find it was one of the uncatalogued ones!

I'd suggest documenting the list in (a) series order and (b) in title
order showing the variety of issues each title received.  As all the
rolls were drawn from the normal Duo-Art library it's the annotation
that matters and is therefore the key to documenting these rolls.
I would also list the original release from which each titles was
drawn.  (Many of these rolls were recoded dynamically for AudioGraphic
release -- some were very substantially reworked.)

One point on the list of numbers given below: these rolls _must_ be
given their prefix number so you can tell the American 'A' series from
the British 'D' series.  I also note some other letter prefixes in the
list of American rolls that presumably have some significance.

The British 'D' series is listed in the original catalogues as:

 * Biographical
 * Analytical
 * Running Comment
 * Annotated
 * Children's Playtime
 * School Song (listed in the launch catalogue but missing from Smith)
 * Ear Training & Rhythmic Movement
   (listed in the launch catalogue but missing from Smith)

In later roll issues the title 'Listener's Introduction' also appears.

All of the above were issued as odd-numbered Duo-Art rolls with the
subsequent even number being the Pianola edition.  The Pianola edition
usually omits the pianist's name, a peculiar (and very British) means
of marking the cheaper edition as being somehow less worthy!

Special 'school model' pianos were launched to go with these rolls,
but it's interesting to note that the rolls they list as for schools
are missing from Smith, which could possibly indicate they were never
issued or were withdrawn.  Both appear at the start of significant gaps
in the numerical listing.

The American 'A' series are listed by Smith as:

 * Listener's Introduction
 * Running Comment
 * Musical Analysis

The American 'C' series is Children's Playtime (all 4 rolls of it).

Hope all this is of interest.

Julian Dyer
Player Piano Group