Historical (original) telephone books

Some time ago we acquired over 1000 original telephone books to sell off. Just over 60 of these remain.

Telephone books are a goldmine of information for historians. There are directories for most Australian states as well as the British Isles.

Ranging in date from the 1970s and upwards, you can call them old, call them vintage, call them historical, or even retro if you prefer. Whatever, we are looking to find good homes for these historical telephone books.

So what’s the value of an old telephone book? You can find family listed. You may even find yourself listed. Or you can find out who and what businesses and services were in the area at that time. Personally I think it’s sad that telephone books have died a slow death due to modern society not needing them, so having access to those that are available for historical purposes is vitally important.

Are you writing a history of the families who lived in a particular area? Or a local history? Or are you looking for the history of a business or organisation? Did they have an advert in the yellow pages in the 1970s, 80s, or 90s? If so, it’ll be there. What address were they at, at the time? All of that is useful information, and helps when recording the history of a place.

Covering the cities, metro area as well as numerous regional areas in Australia, the telephone books are mostly a combination of White and Yellow Pages, listing both individuals as well as businesses. However there are a few that are simply one or the other, and those have been noted.

Country areas in particular will love these, as they are the perfect way to get a feel for who was in the town at that era.

The books are all secondhand, but in good condition. In most case we on have one copy.