The Bluejackets' Manual - History and List of Editions

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THE BLUEJACKETS' MANUAL ©
Edition History with notes

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Ed.	Year	Editor/s	Publisher/s	Printings Date		Pages	*Used Value $	Notes
1st	1902	Ridley McLean	U. S. Naval Institute, Annapolis			304	750-1500	Printed 3000 copies Envelope style cover Copyright 1902 Lieut E. L. Beach Editor, Lieutenant McLean later Rear Admiral McLean
1st-R	1902	Ridley McLean	U. S. Naval Institute, Annapolis			304	150+	Envelope style cover. Reprint of 1978 ISBN 0870211072
2nd	1903	Ridley McLean	U. S. Naval Institute, Annapolis			391	250+	Envelope style cover. Copyright 1903 Prof P. R. Alger
	1904	Ridley McLean	U. S. Naval Institute, Annapolis			391	250+	Envelope style cover marked 1904 Revised and Enlarged Copyright 1903 Prof P. R. Alger Price $1.25
	1905	Ridley McLean	U. S. Naval Institute, Annapolis			391	250+	Envelope style cover marked 1904 Copyright 1905 Prof P. R. Alger Index and individual chapter table of contents
	1905	Ridley McLean	Lord Baltimore Press, Baltimore			391	250+	Cover marked 1904 Copyright 1905 and contents 1905
	1907	R. Z. Johnson	U. S. Naval Institute, Annapolis				250+	Revised and enlarged 1907 Copyright 1907 Prof P. R. Alger
	1908	I. J. Ziegemeier	U. S. Naval Institute, Annapolis			407	250+	Envelope style cover and book style. Revised and enlarged 1908 Copyright 1908 Prof P. R. Alger Book published by USNI, printed by Lord Baltimore Press. Table of contents. Price $1.25
	1911	R. Z. Johnson	U. S. Naval Institute, Annapolis			407	200+	Revised and enlarged 1910 Copyright 1911 Prof P. R. Alger Table of contents Envelope style cover and book style Price $1.25 Postage $0.50 extra
	1913	Ralph Earle	U. S. Naval Institute, Annapolis			407	200+	Revised and Enlarged Copyright 1913 Ralph Earle Table of contents Envelope style cover
	1913	Various Officers of the Service	U. S. Naval Institute, Annapolis			407	200+	Revised to September 1913. Copyright 1913 E. J. King Table of contents Book style with hard cover and soft cover editions Envelope style cover reported
	1914	Bureau of Navigation	Franklin Printing, Philadelphia			849	200+	Revised April 1914. "Revised to correspond with the provisions of General Order No. 63 of December 16, 1913" Foreword, Josephus Daniels, Secretary of the Navy, Table of contents.
	1914	Not stated	Franklin Printing, Philadelphia			849	200+	Five sections published individually each with individual table of contents. No index. US Naval Academy on the fly page
	1914	Not stated	Franklin Printing, Philadelphia			849	200+	Five sections published individually each with individual table of contents. No index. US Naval Militia on the title page. Listed as 2nd edition on title page.
	1915	Not stated	Franklin Printing, Philadelphia			849	200+	Five sections published individually each with individual table of contents. No index. Listed as 2nd edition on title page.
3rd	1915	Not stated	Franklin Printing, Philadelphia			849	200+	Revised July 1915. Foreword, Josephus Daniels, Secretary of the Navy, Table of contents no index. Errata sheet of corrections dated November 29, 1915 3rd Edition printed on cover
4th	1916	Navy Department	Franklin Printing, Philadelphia			821	200+	1916 Fourth Edition, Revised March 1916 Foreword, Josephus Daniels, Secretary of the Navy Table of contents no index.
4th	1916	Navy Department	U. S. Naval Institute, Annapolis				200+
	1917	Navy Department	Washington Loose Leaf Co. Washington, D.C.				200+	1917 Fourth Edition, Revised March, 1916.
5th	1917	Norman R. Van Der Veer	Military Publishing Co., New York			821	50+	Fifth Edition, Revised November 1916 Table of contents no index. Size 4x6 inches. Price $0.75 postpaid. Variant 1917 5th edition (title page) with a 1918 cover published by Naval Institute.
			Franklin Printing, Philadelphia			835	50+
			U. S. Naval Institute, Annapolis			821	50+
			M. B. Brown Printing & Binding Co., New York			835	50+
6th	1918	Norman R. Van Der Veer	Edwin N. Appleton, New York			807	35-60	Table of contents no index. Size 4x6 inches. Foreword, Josephus Daniels, Secretary of the Navy
			The Sherwood Co., New York			807	35-60
			Military Publishing Co., New York			821 +index	35-60	Revised November 1916 Foreword, Josephus Daniels, Secretary of the Navy Addendum 40 page index compiled by H. W. Pinkston Cover marked - with index Size 4x6 inches. Variant published with no index or table of contents.
6th	1922	C. C. Soule, et.al.	U.S. Government Printing Office	1922	1	518	100+	Revised September 1922 Retains 6th edition in title. New editor. Table of contents no index. Size 4x6 inches. Price $1.00.
6th	1922	C. C. Soule, et.al.	U.S. Government Printing Office	1924	2	518	100+
7th	1927	Not stated	U.S. Government Printing Office	1927	1	958	75-150	Revised May 1927. 1st printing 1927 with three small anchors on fly leaf USNA edition same as 1st printing 1927. General edition (2nd print) released 1928 with one anchor Table of contents no index. Size 4x6 inches. Price $1.50
7th	1927	Not stated	U.S. Government Printing Office	1928	2	958	50-100
8th	1938	Not stated	U. S. Naval Institute, Annapolis	3/38	1	836	50-100	Revised December 1937 1938 printing order - contents, flags, National Anthem. Table of contents no index 1st printing cover has square corners. 3rd printing cover has round corners. Preface, William D. Leahy, Acting Secretary of the Navy Naval Institute sole publisher hence.
				5/38	2
				6/38	3
9th	1939	Not stated	U. S. Naval Institute, Annapolis	3/39	1	834	100+	Revised March 1939. Marked - First printing March 1938 Revised March 1939
10th	1940	Not stated	U. S. Naval Institute, Annapolis	6/40	1	784 +index	3-25	Price $0.90 1940 printing order - index, flag plates, National Anthem 1942 printing order - National Anthem, flag plates, index 1943 printing order - National Anthem, flag plates, index.
				12/42
				2/43
				6/43
11th	1943	Edward H. Doolin	U. S. Naval Institute, Annapolis	10/43	1	1145 +index	5-25	Rounded corners edition and square corner edition. Over one million copies. Price $1.25 postpaid.
				1/44
				3/44
				4/44
12th	1944	Not stated	U. S. Naval Institute, Annapolis	1944	1	585 +index	5-25	Rounded corners edition and square corner edition. Size halved and paper quality diminished Glossary added Introduction dated April 1944.
12th	1944	Not stated	U. S. Naval Institute, Annapolis	1/45		585 +index	5-25
13th	1946	Charles R. Ross	U. S. Naval Institute, Annapolis	1946	1	622	5-25	Rounded corners edition and square corner edition. Editors name appears in forward.
14th	1950	Not stated	U. S. Naval Institute, Annapolis	1950	3	828	5-25	Foreword, Francis P. Matthews, Secretary Navy Preface, VADM J. W. Roper, Chief Naval Personnel Variant issued with buff colored dust jacket in Navy correspondence courses. Price $3.00
				1952	13
				1954	18
				1956	26
				1957	27
15th	1957	John Noel Jr. Donald A. Franz William J. Miller	U. S. Naval Institute, Annapolis	1957	1	647	5-25	Preface, VADM Harold P. Smith, Chief Naval Personnel Library of Congress Catalogue Card No. 3-1595 Price $1.95 Revised 1959 on copyright line of 1959 printings
				1958	2
				1959	3
				1959	5
				1959	6
16th	1960	John Noel Jr.	U. S. Naval Institute, Annapolis	1960	1	641	5-25	Library of Congress Catalogue Card No. 3-1595 Price $1.95
				1961	2
				1961	3
				1962	4
17th	1963	John Noel Jr. William J. Miller	U. S. Naval Institute, Annapolis	12/63	1	684	5-25	Library of Congress Catalogue Card No. 3-1595 Price $1.95
				11/64	2
				08/65	3
				02/66	4
				12/66	5
				10/67	6
18th	1968	Kenneth G. Walsh Don Gaskill	U. S. Naval Institute, Annapolis	11/68	1	756	5-25	Library of Congress Catalogue Card No. 3-1595
				04/69	2 sc
				09/69	3 sc
				1971
19th	1973	Arnold S. Lott	U. S. Naval Institute, Annapolis	1973	1	617	3-25	Editor's name appears in the acknowledgements of early printings (page xi) and on the title page in later printings. Soft cover ISBN 0870211099
				03/74	2
				05/74	3
				09/74	4
				04/75	5
				10/76	6
				05/77	7
				11/77	8
20th	1978	Bill Bearden Bill Wedertz	U. S. Naval Institute, Annapolis	01/78	1 sc	611	3-25	1st to 4th printings have 611 pages 5th to 21st printings have 639 pages Forward and prefaces change with 5th printing Soft cover has differing page count Soft cover ISBN 0870211110 Hard cover ISBN 0870211129
				05/74	3	611
				06/80	4	611
				12/86	4 hc	611
				12/80	5	639
				06/81	6	639
				02/82	7	639
				09/82	8	639
				06/83	9 sc	639
				09/84	11 sc	639
				05/85	12	639
				10/85	13	639
				06/86	14	639
				07/86	15	639
				01/87	16 sc	639
				01/87	16 hc	639
				08/87	17 sc	639
				02/88	18	639
				09/88	19	639
				02/89	20	639
				08/89	21 sc	639
				02/90	22	639
21st	1990	Bill Bearden	U. S. Naval Institute, Annapolis	1990	1	773	3-15	Hard cover printings have 773 pages Soft cover printings have 771 pages Soft cover ISBN 1557500509 Hard cover ISBN 0870212591 HMCS Lewis reports printings 10-13 all dated April 1997.
				02/91	2
				09/91	3
				09/92	4
				08/94 1995	6 sc 6 hc	771
				08/94	7 sc
				08/96	7 hc
				09/95	8 sc
				08/96	9 sc
				04/97	10
				04/97	11
				04/97	12
				04/97	13
22nd	1998	Thomas J. Cutler Jim Herdt	U. S. Naval Institute, Annapolis	1998	1	648	3-15	Soft cover ISBN 1557500649 Hard cover ISBN 1557500657 HMCS Lewis reports printings 5-7 all dated November 2000
				10/99	2
				04/00	4
				04/00	5
				04/00	6
				04/00	7
23rd	2002	Thomas J. Cutler	U. S. Naval Institute, Annapolis	5/2002	1	648	3-15	Hard cover / Centennial Edition ISBN 1557502218 Soft cover / Centennial Edition ISBN 1557502080
24th	2009	Thomas J. Cutler	U. S. Naval Institute, Annapolis	5/2009	1	644	See $	Hard cover ISBN 9781591141532 [Release date 01 May 2009]

Moving Apostrophe. The apostrophe in Bluejackets has moved at various times. The latest edition is The Bluejacket's Manual.

Edition Numbers. Early Bluejackets' Manual (BJM) edition numbers present a problem. The 1903 edition clearly states 2nd edition. The 1907, 1908, 1910, 1911, two different 1913 versions, and the 1914 version do not state an edition number on the cover or on the title page. Not until the 1915 BJM does Third Edition boldly appears on the cover. Yet, in the preface remarks of the 1908 BJM one finds the 1905 BJM referenced as the THIRD EDITION and the 1908 BJM referenced as the FIFTH EDITION. It appears that these early "editions" are actually revisions, a point made when the revised 1915 BJM is officially titled Third Edition.

Publisher. The United States Naval Institute, Annapolis, Maryland, holds the copyright on The Bluejacket's Manual. USNI, under the name Naval Institute Press, published the BJM from 1902 through 1913. From 1914 through 1937 various publishers are licensed to print the manual. USNI resumes as sole publisher with the 1938 8th edition.

Printings. Reprint numbers and/or the dates are shown as they are verified. The USNI provides a list of reprints of the BJM. Unfortunately, their list does not include all the reprints. Numerous BJM's viewed show reprint data not found in the USNI list. Check your edition, and reprint number. If it is not on the table please send a note to help fill in the blanks and confirm the total number of reprints per edition. If your BJM does not have a reprint number you can assume it is a first edition as first editions are not otherwise identified.

USNA and Naval Militia Editions have been found in the 1914 and 1927 BJM. These appear as an overprint on the title page and some reported as overprint on the front fly leaf. The Weenick Collection shows an example of the 1914 Naval Militia with an overprint on the title page.

*Used BJM Value. The used value of specific edition BJM's depends heavily on book condition and the number printed. The price shown assumes a very good condition book with higher values for excellent items and lower value for good to fair books. A very good condition book has the covers fully intact, a solid binding, reasonably clean exterior, no loose, torn or missing pages, no markings other than a previous owners name and perhaps military details on the front free end papers. Value drops dramatically with loose bindings and/or pages and with marking to text. World War I and World War II era BJM's were printed in large quantities and a steady supply is available. A first printing of each edition will generally be more desirable. However, there are BJM collectors who not only seek one of every edition, but all printings of each edition.

Comments. Send comments, corrections or BJM print information to our mailbuoy:

Addendum.
A crisp hand salute to BJM collectors for their contributions with special mention of the master collectors to whom this page is greatly indebted, CWO2 "Bosun" Tom Dorsher USN (Ret), CDR Robert A. Weenink USNR (Ret), CNOCMC Anthony Judy USN and HMCS David Lewis, USN (Ret).

See CDR Robert Weenink's excellent documentation of the BJM at Bluejackets-Manual.com

See ALL HANDS Magazine feature article The Bluejacket's Manual Turns 100.

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The Bluejacket's Manual is copyright © United States Naval Institute, Annapolis, MD.

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