"Encyclopedia of Automatic Musical Instruments," by Q. David Bowers. Published in 1972 by The Vestal Press, Vestal, NY. Numerous printings. Printed in hard cover with and without dust jacket (one printing in soft cover), 1,008 pages with hundreds and hundreds of black-and-white photographs, advertisements and reproduction company brochures. The book measures 11-1/4 inches (28.4 cm) high by 8-5/8 inches (22.5 cm) wide by 2-1/4 inches (5.5 cm) thick!

Text from the publisher's catalog reads as follows:

"This monumental 1,000 page book is the absolute "Bible" when it comes to music boxes, player pianos, orchestrions, band organs, fair organs, reproducing pianos, and all the other variations of automatic music machines that have been made in Europe, America and England over the years; br>
It's literally jammed with pictures and information on types of machines, various models, histories of the builders; it's a vast storehouse of just about everything one could ever want to know about what's what in the field.

If you are thinking of buying anything from a small music box to a costly player piano, you may save the price of this book many times over by being better informed about each instrument, If you already own one or more music machines, this book will double your pleasure, as you learn about all the various styles, sizes and shapes!

In 1972 The American Library Association designated it as "One of the Outstanding Reference Books of the Year!"

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

    Preface
    Introduction
    Cylinder Music Boxes
    Disc Music Boxes
    Player Pianos
    Reproducing Pianos
    Coin-Operated Pianos; Orchestrions
    Organettes; Player Organs
    Fairground Organs
    Dictionary of Automatic Musical Instrument Terms
    Bibliography
    Index

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