Automobile Blue Book

The Automobile Blue Book was an American series of road guides for motoring travelers in the United States and Canada published between 1901 and 1929. It was best known for its point-to-point road directions at a time when numbered routes generally did not exist (Wisconsin became the first state to number its highways in 1918).

Origin

Hartford automobile businessman and enthusiast Charles Howard Gillette initiated the series. It was first published in 1901, covering 62 routes across the American Northeastern metropolitan areas of Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C. Gillette had originally intended the book to focus on routes that connected automobile supply stations, and included extensive reference sections on automobile repair and maintenance, but the book would find its most success focusing on routes between cities.

Growth

The Automobile Blue Book was published annually as a single volume through 1906, expanding to 3 volumes in 1907, but would not cover the full United States until 1915. In 1906 the American Automobile Association (AAA), of which Gillette was Secretary, officially sponsored the book, dramatically increasing its circulation as the book was sold to association members at a discount. The 1907 edition was the first to include maps of cities and routes, while also removing the automobile maintenance sections in favor of more space for advertisements related to automobiles and touring. Readers could also find information on trip planning and state road laws. By the 1910s, it became "the standard publication" of its type.

Volumes of the Automobile Blue Book published before 1927 were primarily designed to provide routes between cities, focusing on turn-by-turn directions, with supplemental maps providing context and showing connections.