By
Amasa Mason Redd, M.D.
There
is nothing like a book to hold, to read, to search and at times to
smell. New books give off such a nice aroma especially if bound in
leather. Old books have their own recognizable odor as well. Thirty
three years after the First Edition of The Utah Redds and Their Progenitors was published there are precious few copies available.
I even heard from some one that a copy of the book was for sale on e-bay
and the starting price was $99.
The
Second Edition on CD sold out quickly. Its main claim to fame was its
search-ability and print-ability. I recall copying sections to send to
our son by e-mail when he was serving a mission in the Florida Tampa
Mission while my wife, Karen and I were serving a mission in Japan. He
found the family stories inspirational and enjoyable. Those of you who
have the CD and have learned how to use it know that one can search for
a name or a photo and find it quickly on the CD.
Jan
Garbett and I considered publishing another CD using the Folio Indexing
and Retrieval Engine © but could not
find anyone in Utah licensed to publish the book with this software. I
was able to find the corporation that now owns the software but it is no
longer geared to family publishing. I could have purchased a license to
publish it myself for about $2500. It didn’t seem worth it.
The
Third Edition will be the same book as the First Edition except it will
be published with a perfect bind (soft) instead of a hard bind by dmt PUBLISHING. It
will most likely be more durable than the First Edition.
Because
the book is the “Redd Bible” and is used to find out where one fits
in the family, it needed a complete index, which it doesn’t have. If
you have ever tried to find yourself in the index you have learned very
quickly that not everyone listed in the book and appendices are listed
in the index. One needed to know one’s father, grandfather or
great-grandfather in order to locate one’s self in the First Edition.
The
Third Edition will have an expanded and complete index, improved photos
and a few corrected typographical and spelling errors.
In
addition, we hope to include in a sleeve a PDF version CD of the whole
book including the expanded appendices contained on the Second Edition
CD. This will be somewhat searchable and quite printable. In compiling
the new index I have gained a
greater appreciation for Lura’s work in collecting the family history
and writing the book.
