(Pelham, Alabama) — Whitman Publishing announces the upcoming release of A Penny Saved: R.S. Yeoman and His Remarkable Red Book, by Kenneth Bressett. The 352-page hardcover volume will debut in summer 2021, available from booksellers and hobby shops nationwide. In the meantime, it is available for preorder (including at www.Whitman.com and online bookstores).
Kenneth Bressett, editor emeritus of the Red Book, holding a portrait plaque of R.S. Yeoman, the book’s creator.
The hobby’s popular “Red Book”—officially titled A Guide Book of United States Coins—is celebrating its 75th edition this year. In A Penny Saved, the Red Book’s editor emeritus, Kenneth Bressett, presents a history of the groundbreaking book and a biography of author R.S. Yeoman, who helped ignite a boom in coin-collecting starting in the 1930s and 1940s by promoting innovations including coin boards, folders, and new books. He tells the story of publishing giant Western Printing & Lithographing Company and follows the development of its offshoot, Whitman Publishing, from 1916 to today. Bressett, who worked alongside Yeoman, also shares his own life story in and out of numismatics. Both men have left indelible imprints on the hobby and on publishing in the United States.
Sample pages from chapter 1, which tells the story of Western Printing & Lithographing Company, the birth of Whitman Publishing, and the start of a publishing empire. Hover to zoom.
Collectors have used the Red Book for generations, relying on its accurate and up-to-date coin prices, mintage data, photographs, technical specifications, and historical information. It is one of the most popular nonfiction books in the history of American publishing, with more than 25 million copies sold since the first edition debuted in 1946.
Sample pages from chapter 1, which tells the story of Western Printing & Lithographing Company, the birth of Whitman Publishing, and the start of a publishing empire.
The Red Book revolutionized coin collecting by presenting, for the first time, an impartial, professional catalog of average prices dealers were charging for every U.S. coin. It made the hobby accessible to people of all ages, interests, and budgets.
The opening spread of chapter 3, which tells the story of the Red Book from its beginning in the 1940s to today, with a glimpse into the future.
In A Penny Saved, Ken Bressett has compiled never-before-released documents from the Whitman Publishing archives. He also shares a treasure trove of family photos, corporate memorabilia, and personal recollections about the Red Book and the coin dealers, collectors, researchers, and others who have made it so remarkable.
Sample pages from chapter 6, “The Life and Times of Ken Bressett.”
The book’s title derives from Benjamin Franklin’s famous aphorism “A penny saved is a penny got.” It also reflects Yeoman’s story of his first coin board, which he created in 1916 with a jackknife and a piece of cardboard to save an 1894 Indian Head cent he had earned on his newspaper route for the Evening Wisconsin. 20 years later, during the Great Depression, Yeoman would help launch numismatics into a national craze by marketing and selling cardboard holders for sets of coins collected from pocket change.
A Penny Saved: R.S. Yeoman and His Remarkable Red Book
By Kenneth Bressett; foreword by Jeff Garrett.
ISBN 0794849016. Hardcover, 8.5 x 11 inches, 352 pages, full color.
Retail $39.95 U.S.
About Whitman Publishing
Whitman Publishing is the world’s leading producer of numismatic reference books, supplies, and products to display and store coins and paper money. The company’s high-quality books educate readers in the rich, colorful history of American and world coinage and currency, and teach how to build great collections. Archival-quality Whitman folders, albums, cases, and other holders keep collectibles safe and allow them to be shown off to friends and family.
Whitman Publishing is the Official Supplier of the American Numismatic Association. As a benefit of membership in the ANA, members can borrow the Red Book (and other Whitman books) for free from the Association’s Dwight N. Manley Numismatic Library, and also receive 10% off all Whitman purchases. Details are on the website of the ANA.
About the Guide Book of United States Coins
A Guide Book of United States Coins, known as the Red Book, is the world’s most popular annual retail price guide for U.S. coins, tokens, and other numismatic items. More than 25 million copies have been purchased since 1946, making it one of the best-selling nonfiction titles in the history of U.S. book publishing.
For the 75th edition, more than 100 professional coin dealers, scholars, and other numismatic experts contributed their knowledge under the direction of Senior Editor Jeff Garrett, Research Editor Q. David Bowers, and Editor Emeritus Kenneth Bressett.
The history of the Red Book is told in Bressett’s A Penny Saved: R.S. Yeoman and His Remarkable Red Book.
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Where can I now buy Bressett’s “A Panny Saved” book?
(sold out thru Whitman)