American Premium Record Guide, 1900-1965

I have been collecting 78 rpm records for about 38 years. I became aware of this book when I was given a copy (the 2nd edition) as a gift many years ago.Since then I have bought each new edition as they have come out. I have not come across another guide for the collector of 78 rpm records which compares with this one. It doesn't cover every 78 ever issued.It would have to be huge (and expensive).Left out mostly are the common 'pop' discs of the 40's and 50's. Great label pictorial sections. Another very nice feature is that all names used by one artist or group are listed at the beginning of that entry. My only complaint is a lack of an index.(Earlier editions had one.)This is helpful since many artists appear in more than one section.Also,sometimes you might not be sure which section an artist might be in.(Such as Blues vs Jazz) I highly recommend this book. Thank you!

les docks has been the sole responsible book writer for pre war blues and jazz for a long long time. his books are facinating. his prices have always been absurdly LOW which he addresses in all honesty in the prelude pages. his scans are fantastic! truly one of the best books you can own to start looking for rare records. what it lacks and there probably good reason,is information about unknown records.but you can still see them pictured and hes finally admitting robert johnsons records are worth more than 50 dollars each! keep rockin les and id love to see the shellack shack someday!

If you collect records by well-known artists or mainstream recordings from the 1960s-1990s, this probably isn't the guide for you. But, if you have 78s or obscure labels or titles, this is a great addition to your record guides. When I was collecting more intensely a few years back, I found that I ended up using about 6 different guides, and subscribed to Goldmine magazine, a tabloid out of Iola, Wisconsin. Out of all of these guides together, I could usually find out what I wanted to know about the records I was collecting. When it came to 78s, though, this was the book that I always turned to for information. I didn't always agree with what I saw listed as the value ( of course, I thought my records were worth more. Just look at all the guides till you find a price you like! ) but there is a lot of good info here. It's worth looking at just to see the record labels in the front of the book. I found that I could search through stacks of records while hunting armed with the knowledge of what were labels to zero in on for Blues, Jazz and the like, and if I could get the records cheaply enough, it was often worth the gamble to buy them and listen to unfamiliar artists once I got home. If you just want a price guide for mainstream music, there are better guides, like: Jerry Osborne's Official Price Guide to Records, Goldmine has good guides on 45s and records in general, and if you collect Doo-Wop try "Doo-Wop, the forgotten third of Rock 'n Roll" by Dr. Anthony J. Gribin & Dr. Matthew M. Schiff, and Warman's has guides just on Elvis and the Beatles (two separate books.) The Official Price Guide to Records has 13 pages on the Beatles compared to a handful of entries in les Docks' book. But, on the other hand, I found a price for a 45 by the 1950s R & B group, the "Go-boys," featuring Dudley Callicutt, in Les' book and nothing in the other guides. It's all a matter of what you're looking for. And if you have an artist's name, there's an index in the back.