Editing Golden Guide (section)

{{Short description|Series of pocket-sized books}}
{{Infobox book series
| name             = Golden Guide
| image            =  Goldenguides.jpg
| image_caption    = Early Golden Guides, published from 1949 to 1955.
| books            = 
| author           = 
| editors          = [[Herbert Zim]], Vera Webster
| title_orig       = Golden Nature Guides
| translator       = 
| illustrator      =  [[James Gordon Irving]]
| cover_artist     = 
| country          = United States
| language         = English
| discipline       = <!-- or |genre= -->
| publisher        = [[Western Publishing]]<br />[[Golden Press]]<br />[[St. Martin's Press]] (2001–present)
| pub_date         = 1949–2002
| english_pub_date = 
| media_type       = [[Paperback|Pocket book]]
| number_of_books  = 84
| list_books       = 
| oclc             = 
| preceded by      = 
| followed by      = [[Golden Field Guide]]
| website          = [http://us.macmillan.com/series/AGoldenGuidefromStMartinsPress Official website]
}}
The '''Golden Guides''', originally '''Golden Nature Guides''', were a series of 160-page, pocket-sized books created by [[Western Publishing]] and published under their "Golden Press" line (primarily a children's book imprint) from 1949.  Edited by [[Herbert S. Zim]] and Vera Webster, the books were written by experts in their field and featuring realistic color illustrations.

Intended for primary and secondary school level readers, the first books were [[field guide]]s illustrated by [[James Gordon Irving]], with such titles as ''Birds'' (1949), ''Insects'' (1951), and ''Mammals'' (1955). The series later expanded beyond identification guides to cover a wider range of subjects, such as ''Geology'' (1972), ''Scuba Diving'' (1968)'','' and ''Indian Arts'' (1970).

In 1966, Zim launched a related series, the [[Golden Field Guide]]s, aimed at high school or college-age readers.

An updated series was relaunched in 2001 as "Golden Guides by [[St. Martin's Press]]", illustrated largely with photographs but retaining some of the original 1950s illustrations.<ref>{{Cite journal|url = http://uppercasemagazine.com/issue15|title = The Golden Nature of James Gordon Irving|last = Fandrich|first = Leslie|date = Fall 2012|journal = Uppercase|issue = 15|pages = 46–50}}</ref>