Folks: As some of you may know, I collect The Guide Books (also known as the Red Book). I have signed with Whitman Publishing to write a Guide Book on Collecting the Guide Book. At this time, I would appreciate your help. I am trying to find out if anyone: 1) collects the Guide Book and/or the Hand Book (Blue Book)..just need some idea of how many. 2) If anyone out there has any error editions (misbound -- that is bound upside down) or mis-printed (for example the covers double printed or misaligned). 3) any oddities that you may have collected over the years...Whitman silver rounds, whatever. Thanks for your help. Frank
A coffee table book about coffee tables (sorry, couldn't resist) Congratulations, sounds like a neat project. :thumb:
Congratulations Frank, that's really neat I don't actively collect the Whitman Red Book but I have a few older copies with the oldest being 1962. I used to collect BaseBall Player Coins by the Topps Co., but gave most of them away. The were put two coins per pack of baseball cards. I've still got the Mark McGuire and Barry Bonds bronze coins though.
Frank, you know that I have collected the "Red Book" over the years and have about 15 copies beginning at 1959 to the present and I have about 12 "Blue Books". I have collected them for years and had almost the entire set at one time except for the first three editions but sold them all. I dont have any of the silver rounds but I do have the 1963 error edition, the 1997 anniversary edition, the 1947 Tribute edition and the 1947 Tribute leather edition. Let me know if I can be any more assistance.
I collect those things and don't know why. I have from the 8th Edition to present, all hard bound covers. Also, that special edition reprint of the first one in 1947. Sure wish I kept them all back then. I started collecting coins in 1943. What I've been doing since the ringed version and soft cover versions came out is to buy one hard cover for my collection and two ringed ones for usage. I also buy about 10 ringed ones for Christmas Presents. I have the one with the missing page also. Now here is something. For a few years now I've been sending Mr. Dennis Tucker, Publisher at Whitman a list of all the errros I find in the Red Book. Usually he is polite and wards off my complaints with almost logical answers. Many of the items I sent were suggestions, not errors and basically ignored. An example of a suggestion was to number all pages regardless of if an add or normal info. As you can see some add pages are numbered and some are not. A comical error was in the 2008 version where on page 6 all items listed after Commemoratives are 2 page numbers off. I've complained to just about everyone about the stupidity of having the editions come out with dates on them almost a year in advance. I remember way, way back when I used to wait for about August for the next edtion. Now it is almost out at the beginning of the previous year. Example is the 2008 version came out in about April of 2007. What next? A 2106 Edtion in 2010? Anyway if you want a copy of all my griping about the Red Book, let me know.
I collect many of the coins listed in them. Does that help? Looking at an old Redbook can be painful to say the least = when you see what coins USED TO list for. My oldest is from 1969 and I have no clue where I put it. Probably a good thing for me. Good luck in your quest!
There is an awful lot of people out there that buy that book. I'm surprized you didn't receive more answers. Possibly you may want to redo your post to say something like help with the RED BOOK. Note your post says Guide Book so many may not even look. Anything is worth a try.
I broke down and purchased the 2008 Redbook. Superficially, it just looks like the publisher took last year's book and increased everything by 10%. The book isn't so perfect that it can't be improved, and I really wish they would put a little more work into it to add something each year. I guess it's too easy to put out a cheap version and just let collectors fork over the cash.
My dad has a couple of the ones from the 1970's, perhaps a bit earlier, but I'm not sure I would mark him down as an intentional collector. Thalia Elizabeth owns all the ones in this house! She gets them from other coin folks (well, she is a lot cuter than I am). Perhaps one of the angles for your book could be that people can be casual collectors of the Red and Blue Books. Congratulations on the deal! You are on your way to a lasting legacy.
Congratulations Frank!!! I don't collect the red book but I do have a few that I bought thru the years. The earliest copy that I have is from 1961 and the only copy of the blue book that I have is from 1964. One of my collector friends has all the books except for the first two. Lou
Frank, I have about 12 in total (both Blue and Red) mostly from the 60's and early 70's. I picked up all but the last two years at an estate sale in a box of books that I had spotted for this very reason. The earliest I have is from either 59 or 60. I will go through them tonight and see if there are any noticeable errors. It is great to look at those older versions - now I have another excuse! I'll let you know what I find.
Here are the Yeoman books I have excluding the 2008 I have at the office. the bottom blue book is 1963. Will try to go through them tonight looking for anything unusual. http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee123/USS656/RedandBlueBooks.jpg Darryl
