I have for some time been wanting to purchase another copy of
Rollin Smith's excellent book "The Aeolian Pipe Organ and its Music".
Whilst scanning the pages of Amazon and Alibris recently, I came
across a publication with that same name, but with the author given as
"The Aeolian Company", paperback, published in 2008 by the Wildhern
Press.  There were no reviews or further information except for the
number of pages, which was roughly the same as in the Rollin Smith book.

I sent for a copy and it arrived today.  To my great surprise, this
publication turns out to be a photographic reprint of the Aeolian
Company's 1919 catalogue of 116-note rolls, complete with composer
biographies, programme notes and price list.  I am very pleased to have
this book as I have been trying to locate an original copy for some
time (and the originals are very fragile anyway), but I am bemused by
the fact that someone should have thought it financially viable to
produce such a book as a speculation to place on the open market.

I cannot imagine that the book has been produced by an Aeolian
collector as there has been no attempt to reproduce the Aeolian style
of lettering or design (as was so triumphantly the case with the
cover of Rollin Smith's book) and there is no explanatory preface,
or acknowledgement of the source material, or indeed any background
information for the casual reader.  The second page states "layout
and illustrations copyright the Wildhern Press 2008", although the
layout is as in the original book and there are no illustrations.

The Wildhern Press gives its address as being in Teddington, Middlesex,
England, although most copies advertised on Alibris are available in
the US and there are references to the Wildhern Press being an American
Company.

A further confusion arises from some additional pages which have been
bound in at the end of the book; Page 538 is followed by three blank
pages and then we have pages 123-125 of what appears to be an earlier,
less extensive catalogue, followed by a blurred, typed page converting
dollar prices to Pounds, Shillings and Pence.

These minor criticisms notwithstanding, I am extremely grateful to
whoever is behind this reprint and I am sure that it will prove to be
of great interest and usefulness to collectors of Aeolian Pipe Organs
and 116-note orchestrelles, who may like to have a "cheap and cheerful"
copy of the catalogue which they can treat with less reverence than
than a rare original copy.  Perhaps someone out there has some more
information regarding this publication.

In addition, I am still looking for another copy of the Rollin Smith
book if anyone has a spare copy which they are prepared to sell.
I managed to lose my "working" copy whilst on holiday in France last
year.

Rowland Lee
http://www.rowlandlee.com/