Its time for Ken Bressett to be known as the author of the Red Book

Halfhunter06

RS Yeoman was a great guy, dont get me wrong, but hes been gone a long time now. When the average Joe picks up a Red Book and sees the credits it would seem to him that Ken only assisted RS Yeoman in creating the 2004, 2005, on so on editions. Obviously we know he is the current author, but he also should get the full credit he deserves. Whos with me?

Coinosaurus

I hear you, but RS Yeoman is a powerful part of the brand. Kind of like Bowers & Merena, or Stack's - the name is very meaningful regardless of who is running the company.

It's a fine line - you want to credit your contributors, but you don't want to mess with the franchise.

Halfhunter06

Maybe its a generation gap, by the time i started collecting he was already gone.

rgCoinGuy

He's gone?

firstmint

Bressett, long involved with the Guidebook, did not write the book, so no, he should not be known as the author.

TomB

I am not with you on this.

OregonCityGold

Deleted.

MPLunatic

<< <i>Yes, it's time.

All I remember about RSY, rest in peace, was that in his twilight years, he couldn't keep food in his mouth while eating. I had the unfortunate experience of watching the man eat ribs sometime in the mid-1980s. It was disgusting. For every ounce of rib that made it down the hatch, 2 ounces fell back on his plate, only to be reeaten, and fall back out again. I swear, it was one of the foulest things I saw in the 1980s. >>



haha thats the funniest thing I've read all day, unbelievable

Longacre

Maybe Dentuck or the other Literati (is that a word?) can weigh in on this as well (Dentuck in his capacity as a member of these boards and not in an official capacity as a representative of Whitman)--

Is there ever a period of time where an author of a book is considered not to be the author of that book, even if it went through many revisions by other people? What are the rules?

Coinosaurus

<< <i>
All I remember about RSY, rest in peace, was that in his twilight years, he couldn't keep food in his mouth while eating. I had the unfortunate experience of watching the man eat ribs sometime in the mid-1980s. It was disgusting. For every ounce of rib that made it down the hatch, 2 ounces fell back on his plate, only to be reeaten, and fall back out again. I swear, it was one of the foulest things I saw in the 1980s. >>



Good grief. We are all going to get old someday, let's have a little consideration maybe? I am sure he was doing the best he could. There are quite a few oldtimers around who I'd be happy to have dinner with regardless of whether they have trouble with the ribs.

Halfhunter06

Or maybe even just reversing the names on the cover, with Ken in big letters and under it "Originally by RS Yeoman". I just feel he deserves the credit. I have to stop there because i know what will happen if i talk about more on this forum.

messydesk

Not having picked up a Red Book for a while to read it (not just look at the price guides), I need to ask how much of the text in the book is unchanged from the days that RSY was actively involved? I have a feeling there is much that is mostly unchanged from 30 or more years ago. While Ken Bressett may be the modern caretaker and editor of the book, saying "by Ken Bressett" on something which is largely Yeoman's composition (or compilation) isn't correct. I do think he deserves front cover second billing, though.

pmac

I think that Webster gets credit still, and he's been pushing up daisies a long time.

wikyva

I was at Session II of Summer Seminar and I saw Ken Bressett wearing a t-shirt ... on the front it said "Obverse" and on the back it said "Reverse" It made me laugh out loud!