"Restoring Pianolas and other self-playing pianos" by Arthur W. J. G. Ord-Hume. Published in 1983 by George Allen & Unwin, London. First Edition. Hard cover with dust jacket, 143 pages with 56 Plates (black-and-white photographs, with descriptions) and 50 Figures (drawings). The book measures 10 inches (25.2 cm) high by 7½ inches (19 cm) wide.
Text from the dust jacket is as follows:
"Pianos which play by themselves are today the province of electronics and computer technology. Yet half a century ago, pneumatically-played pianos such as the pianola were commonplace. And earlier still, pianos which played their music by means of a studded wooden barrel were equally popular. Indeed they were in use on the streets of our cities until a generation or two ago while no between-the-wars pub worth its beer was without its coin-operated clockwork piano.
Restoring Pianolas tells you how to give a new lease of life to these fascinating and highly collectable instruments. Written by an acknowledged world authority on mechanical music and its instruments, Restoring Pianolas is a practiccal guide to the reconditioning of barrel pianos and pneumatic pianos and includes a valuable chapter on the reproducing piano. Appendices list the makes and makers of music rolls, trade names of player pianos and who made them, and a table of serial numbers as an aid to dating the more popular makes of player piano.
List of Plates
List of Line Illustrations
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Appendix B - List of Trade Names
Appendix C - Some Serial Numbers of Player Pianos
Bibliography
Index
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