The Golden Guides, originally Golden Nature Guides, were a series of 160-page, pocket-sized books created by

Western Publishing Western Publishing, also known as Western Printing and Lithographing Company, was an American company founded in 1907 in Racine, Wisconsin, best known for publishing the Little Golden Books. Its Golden Books Family Entertainment division also ...

and published under their "Golden Press" line (primarily a children's book imprint) from 1949. Edited by Herbert S. Zim and Vera Webster, the books were written by experts in their field and featuring realistic color illustrations. Intended for primary and secondary school level readers, the first books were

field guide A field guide is a book designed to help the reader identify wildlife (flora or fauna or funga) or other objects of natural occurrence (e.g. rocks and minerals). It is generally designed to be brought into the " field" or local area where suc ...

s illustrated by

James Gordon Irving James Gordon Irving (June 2, 1913 – August 15, 2012) was a commercial illustrator and painter, best known for illustrating the early Golden Guide series of nature books. Life and career Irving, who went by the name Gordon, was born in Ridg ...

, with such titles as ''Birds'' (1949), ''Insects'' (1951), and ''Mammals'' (1955). The series later expanded beyond identification guides to cover a wider range of subjects, such as ''Geology'' (1972), ''Scuba Diving'' (1968)'','' and ''Indian Arts'' (1970). In 1966, Zim launched a related series, the Golden Field Guides, aimed at high school or college-age readers. An updated series was relaunched in 2001 as "Golden Guides by

St. Martin's Press St. Martin's Press is a book publisher headquartered in Manhattan in New York City. It is headquartered in the Equitable Building (New York City), Equitable Building. St. Martin's Press is considered one of the largest English-language publishe ...

", illustrated largely with photographs but retaining some of the original 1950s illustrations.

List of Golden Guides

References

{{reflist

External links

Golden Guide from St. Martin's Press
- Current list of Golden Guides * List of th

Golden Books books Science books Book series Publications established in 1949 Western Publishing