Great Lakes Red Books

[ashland69]

Sorry, they are not for sale. I was just looking to see if there are a lot of these books out there and possibly some history on them.

Ok, thanks so much, Mike. Just thot I'd ask. Enjoy them.

[Russ]

The Red Books were published annually from 1899 until 1995. They contained a list of the Captain and Chief Engineer assigned to each boat, the general dimensions of each boat, company headquarters for each company, and a list of suppliers in each port where a Captain could arrange for fuel, food, supplies, and repairs. The books were distributed throughout the shipping industry for a nominal $1 - $2 per issue.

There are some limitations with the Red Books:
1. Fleets are listed alphabetically, each boat is indexed alphabetically, but you have to scan the entire issue to see if a specific individual is included.
2. If a fleet fit out late or the company didn't submit assignments to the publisher, there were no listings for the boats in that year.
3. If an individual quit, retires, or dies during the off season, he may still be listed in the next issue.
4. Occasionally, there are errors in the Red Books. The biggest one I have found was in 1949 when all the Pittsburgh Captains were listed as Chief Engineers and all the Chief Engineers were listed as Captains.
All in all, the Red Books were useful little documents.

The Red Books are now considered to be Reference documents by libraries. You can use them in the library but you can not check them out or borrow them through inter-library loan (I tried). The Red Books occasionally show up on ebay. Most of these listings are for the 1950's, 1960's, and 1970's. These issues generally went for somewhere between $5 and $10. In 10+ years, I have only seen 3-4 liisting for a Red Book published prior to 1940. The earliest issue I can recall being listed was for 1925. The earlier issues could get into bidding wars because they are rarer and harder to find.

[Mike G]

Sorry, they are not for sale. I was just looking to see if there are a lot of these books out there and possibly some history on them.

[ashland69]

I have a 1927 and a 1935 Red Book. Both are in used but very good condition. I got these from my grandfather who sailed as
2nd A/E years ago. Are these rare or "dime a dozen".any value?

Mike G., please me at [email protected], OK? How much for the two of them? Many thanks, Craig

Sorry for the typo in my message. Also, I first thot you might be selling the Red Books. Are they for sale or are you just making mention that you have them? If they are for sale, feel free to drop me a line at the email at [email protected]. I'm expanding my collection of Red Books and these are two years I need.

[ashland69]

I have a 1927 and a 1935 Red Book. Both are in used but very good condition. I got these from my grandfather who sailed as
2nd A/E years ago. Are these rare or "dime a dozen".any value?

Mike G., please me at [email protected], OK? How much for the two of them? Many thanks, Craig

[Guest]

They are by no means "dime-a-dozen." Even the more recent issues are becoming harder to find, but something from that time frame would have to be classified "rare". When I was collecting, those were two of the ones out of my collection that were missing.

[Brent]

I sold a couple from the 1920's for $10.00 each on E-Bay a while back.

[Mike G]

I have a 1927 and a 1935 Red Book. Both are in used but very good condition. I got these from my grandfather who sailed as
2nd A/E years ago. Are these rare or "dime a dozen".any value?