Both the Music Trade Review (MTR) and Presto trade publications are now
available online to the general public at the MBSI web site.  There is
a direct link to them on the MBSI home page, http://www.mbsi.org/ and
it probably won't be long before Google finds and indexes them.

Over 100,000 pages have been indexed.  There are over 40.5 million
keyword-page references in the search engine.  The digitized files of
both publications are being hosted at no charge to MBSI by WebMagic.
Scanning and OCR of the MTR publications was funded entirely by NAMM,
the International Music Products Association.  Scanning and OCR of
Presto was funded primarily by NAMM with the exception of a few
volumes paid for by MBSI.

Both publications were produced weekly in folio ("Life" magazine)
size.  The focus of MTR was the entire musical instrument industry
while Presto was focused on pianos and related instruments.  They
contain an in-depth history of these industries with an insight into
the culture extant at the time.  They should prove to be an incredible
research tool for interested parties.  The almost complete publication
runs of MTR and Presto were donated to MBSI by Q. David Bowers.

Ralph Schack