The Paramount Book
of
Blues
When jazz and blues enthusiast John Steiner purchased the dusty remnants of the fabled Paramount records company in 1949, he found mixed in with the papers and ephemera a lone copy of The Paramount Book of Blues, shown above.
Paramount, a subsidiary of the Wisconsin Chair Company, was a small mid-West business that was perennially short on operational and investment capital, but big on blues and jazz talent. Despite its shoestring budget, from the early 1920s to the early 1930s, Paramount issued some of the most remarkable 78 rpm records of the era
Because Paramount did not have the money or distribution resources to compete with the big record companies, its marketing teams looked for novel ways to promote its 78s, hence, The Paramount Book of the Blues.
Aside from the fact of its existence, the story behind publication of the forty-page book of music and photos is unknown. Given the recording dates of the Blues songs included it is reasonable to assume it was published in 1927, certainly no later than 1928; it would not have been published after that because for all intents and purposes the Paramount recording careers of Ma Rainey, Elzadie Robinson, and Ida Cox—all featured in the book—were over after 1928.
That there is no price printed on The Paramount Book of the Blues suggests it was an advertising freebie provided to encourage prospective record buyers to stock up on Paramount 78s. In all likelihood, copies were added to record shipment boxes going to stores selling Paramount records. Perhaps they were to be given out to buyers as part of a special Paramount promotional campaign, something for which the company was noted.
How many original books were distributed to the public we don’t know, and today only a handful remain in the hands of 78 collectors; even those that John Steiner later reproduced from his lucky find rarely show up at auction.
It is thought that Steiner, based in Chicago, first reprinted his copies in small quantities for fellow 78 collectors around 1949 or 1950. Over the years he would do additional limited print runs. According to 78 collector Russ Shor, he visited with Steiner a few years before his death in 2000, and bought his remaining copies.
There is one easy way to ascertain if a book is an original or a Steiner copy. The original that Steiner found was missing pages 33 and 34. For his reproduction he substituted “There Ain’t Nothing Doin’ What You’re Thinkin’ About” for the missing song, and those two added pages remained unnumbered in his reproduction copies.
The Paramount Book of the Blues is about 9 1/2 inches tall and 6 1/4 inches wide, smaller than a piece of sheet music, but at least large enough for reading the piano music provided for its thirty popular Paramount blues.
Below, in its entirety, is Steiner’s 1949-1950 The Paramount Book of the Blues.
Click the side arrows to turn pages
One of the songs highlighted in The Paramount Book of Blues is Ma Rainey’s Moonshine Blues. For a closer look at the song, please click below:
Bibliography
Note: All graphics and ephemera are from the Bowman collection.
