A BOOK ABOUT NUMISMATIC PUBLISHING

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V24 2021 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 24, Number 35, August 29, 2021, Article 7

Publisher Dennis Tucker penned a Coin Update article about the debut of A Penny Saved: R.S. Yeoman and His Remarkable Red Book at the recent ANA World's Fair of Money. -Editor

Most numismatic books are about coins. A smaller number are about paper money, or tokens and medals (descending in quantity in that particular order). Fewer still focus on numismatic personalities, markets, specific historical factors, technology, and other aspects of the hobby (or art or science) of money.

Two weeks ago, at the American Numismatic Association World's Fair of Money, a Whitman book debuted that involves all of the above and more. The new publication is A Penny Saved: R.S. Yeoman and His Remarkable Red Book.

LEFT: Retired editor of The Numismatist Barbara Gregory assisted Ken Bressett in the Herculean tasks of editing and writing, and reviewing and organizing archives from Western Printing and Lithographing Co. (the historical parent company of Whitman Publishing), sorting family photographs and artifacts, and studying other resources used in Ken's new book, A Penny Saved: R.S. Yeoman and His Remarkable Red Book.

RIGHT: Two titans of numismatic publishing. Neil Shafer (left) is a main character in Ken Bressett's new A Penny Saved: R.S. Yeoman and His Remarkable Red Book. Neil worked for Whitman Publishing starting in the 1960s as a writer, editor, and researcher. His work in Philippine coins and paper money in particular, as well as the broader world of currency, is well known and includes reference books recognized as standards. He continues to blaze trails, writing for Bank Note Reporter and other publications.

A Penny Saved is a book about books . . . about the world of publishing . . . and specifically, the heady and rarefied world of numismatic book publishing.

While this might seem like the narrowest possible niche subject, it actually touches a thousand points in the history of coin collecting in America, going back to the 1800s and stretching to today's digital realm.

LEFT: A Rittenhouse Society medal created to honor Red Book editor Kenneth Bressett.

RIGHT: Ben Franklin (Patrick McBride) with A Penny Saved, at the ANA World's Fair of Money, August 2021.

One part of the story is the maturation of a small Racine, Wisconsin, print shop—West Side Printing Company—into the worldwide giant Western Printing and Lithographing Company. Another part of the story is the birth and gangbuster growth of Western's subsidiary, Whitman Publishing. Into Whitman's orbit came young Richard Yeo, whose public persona would become R.S. Yeoman. From Yeoman sprang the Guide Book of United States Coins and other innovative new books that would sell in the tens of millions. Then onto the scene came another prodigy, Kenneth Bressett. And on and on the story grows, with colorful connections, more books and hobby products, excursions into the United States Mint and the Treasury Department, the creation of new coins, and other adventures.

If you're a coin collector who likes a good story, immerse yourself in the wonderful world of A Penny Saved: R.S. Yeoman and His Remarkable Red Book. It will expand your understanding of our shared numismatic history, and rejuvenate your love of America's greatest hobby.