When I bought this discography I thought it would be of historical value only, but I was surprised by its quality!
It's a discography in French and English, listing both official releases and bootlegs/pirate releases. Not surprisingly, it isn't complete, and sometimes the various issues of a record aren't distinguished carefully enough. There are also some mistakes: for example, Bruna confuses the different issues of the UK The London Boys single - he pictures the third issue as the first, and the first as the second. But these flaws are almost negligible, given that this discography was compiled in pre-internet days. So even from nowadays' (2023) point of view, it is an impressive piece of work. In some cases it is even more accurate than Jarman and even Jarman & Stöcklin: the Australian "Heroes"/"Héros" EP is correctly listed as a 1980 release.
What is particularly interesting is that the book also serves as a price guide, giving the value of the records in Dollars, Pounds and French Francs. Even different values in the three countries of these currencies are considered. Sometimes the value of a British records in Dollars is higher than in Pounds, and the value of US records is higher in Pounds than in Dollars.
Reading those values I could almost cry. Nowadays I would immediately buy a lot of the records at those prices. The value of the original UK mono issue of the Deram album, for example, is given as 50 Pounds. That might have been correct in the UK back in those days, but today... well, do a bit of research on Discogs or Ebay to find out for yourself...

It's old (40 years old! - by 2021), outdated... and still one of my favourite books on Bowie. Being an ideal introduction for beginners rather than specialists, it nonetheless contains a lot of useful information for collectors, especially the release dates of US-American albums. And it's simply a pleasure to read and look at.
Note that it was this book that started the hoax about the (non-existent) David Bowie Is the Visitor bootleg.

A typical biography of the time, with some discographical information. But a lot of that information is wrong: the picture of "David Bowie's first single", for example, shows a promo for the 1978 re-issue.
Nonetheless, there is a weak spot in my heart for this book, since it made me familiar with the concept of bootlegs: in 1981, at the tender age of 14, I leafed through this book in some record shop and was stunned to see the covers of Bowie records I had never heard about! Well, in one case this wasn't any wonder, since the record didn't actually exist: the legendary The Missing Link album of 1974 recordings, which is also listed in other publications (and has nothing to do with the really existing bootleg of that name). And Charlesworth doesn't realise that the Live in Stockholm 79 bootleg couldn't have been recorded that year...

A glossy biography with lots of pictures. It's been a long time since I've read it, but I remember that it didn't give me many new insights. Anyway, it has some interesting discographical information on compilations (release dates!).

A nice price guide, but it only comprises singles from the USA and the UK.
It can give you a rough orientation concerning the value of your records, but it can only serve as a starting point, especially because the value of records always strongly depends on the condition.
To me it seems that some of the pre-RCA singles are slightly overpriced, while some of the RCA singles are underpriced.

Again, this price guide covers mainly UK and US releases, although some particularly sought-after items from other countries (like the German round cover TMWSTW and the Brazil Buddha of Suburbia albums) are also listed.
Well, I wish all these prices were realistic. That would make me rather rich, because especially the prices for some RCA albums appear extremely high to me.

For all I know, this book (or rather it's first and shorter photocopied edition, which was published in 1976) was the first attempt at writing a mainly discographical book on Bowie. What was probably most interesting back in those days is the list of known tapes of unreleased Bowie recordings circulating among collectors. Given that music is shared on the internet nowadays, it's no longer that exciting.
What about the discographical part (in a narrower sense)? It was extremely difficult to compile such information in pre-internet days, so you have to be permissive...
Not surprisingly, the discography, which includes both legal releases and bootlegs, is incomplete and there are a lot of mistakes, particularly concerning records that were "exotic" from the American point of view. For example, the German round cover edition of The Man Who Sold the World is listed as a Dutch release, and the book lists a German Bowie compilation In the Beginning, Volume 1, which has never existed. But the pictures of various Bowie records from all over the world must have been exciting in 1979.
The only really annoying issue is that it was probably this book (or one of its earlier editions) that started the rumour of a second King Bees single (You're Holding Me Down - see here for more information). After all, there's a lot of information from hearsay in this book.
Nonetheless, it still contains valuable information even from today's (2024) point of view: it is interesting that Fletcher (as a collector from the the USA in the 1970s) claims that the counterfeits of the The Man Who Sold the World album started turning up in summer 1976. This what I call useful first-hand information.

Frifelt, who also provided the bootleg section of Bassman's David Bowie Page, is certainly the number one specialist on Bowie bootlegs. In this rare book, of which only 1.000 were printed, he gives an enormous lot of information about the contents, quality and different issues of almost every bootleg up to 1990. There is also a second book covering the following years, but it only circulates in a photocopied version. However, his contribution to the above-mentioned website covers the era until the mid-2000s.

A great follow-up to the first volume. It covers the years until 1996 and has a section of corrections and additions to the first book. The only problem is that this second volume was never (professionally) released, so only photocopies circulate, but even these are difficult to find. This is a copy I got from Christian himself, with hand-written corrections by the author. It seems that 100 of these photocopies were made.

Another great book from the above author. It comprises the information of the two previous volumes plus up-to-date information until late 2016. Unlike its predecessors it's in full colour! This time Frifelt confined himself to vinyl records, but since I primarily collect those, I'm perfectly happy with that.
Definitely one of the best discographical Bowie books.
This one is signed by the author and numbered 79/100.

Part 2 of Frifelt's great vinyl bootleg discography, this time even as a hardcover, and again signed by the author. In fact, it is unbelievable how many vinyl bootlegs were released in these few years. This certainly justifies this release, which is as voluminous as the first volume.
Note, though, that a bit of criticism is also in order. Originally, bootlegs were made to be released to some wider public of fans and collectors. Naturally, they were normally made in smaller quantities than official releases, and sometimes the number was limited right from the start, or "special editions" (for example in coloured vinyl) were made in very small quantities to enhance the desirability. But of most bootlegs at least a few hundred were made.
The first part of Frifelt's bootleg discography comprised mainly such bootlegs, and very "exotic" items, of which only 10 or 20 copies exist, were the exception. However, large parts of this new book consist of listings of exactly such records, that is, records of which only 30 or even 10 were made. To me, such records are homemade items, rather than actual bootleg releases. You make a handful of records and distribute them to a number of friends or subscribers or whoever, so that nobody else will ever have a chance to get one of them. It's tiresome to leaf through lists of records you will certainly never even see in your life. I think such pseudo-releases shouldn't be listed in a book on bootlegs, or a least be shifted to a separate section.

Hoggard, Stuart, & Chris Charlesworth (1982), The Illustrated Discography, second edition, Omnibus Press, London, ISBN 0-86001-772-9

Well... Hoggard... a biography/discography that's nice to read. Clearly outdated, but it contains some nice details. The major problem is that some of them are wrong! Hoggard's book is certainly one of the major sources of the rumour about the second King Bees single (a rumour that was probably started by Fletcher and was still repeated in Chris Welch's We Could Be Heroes from 1999). So Hoggard's information should be treated with care.

For 24 years Jarman's discography was the "bible" for collectors of Bowie 7" singles. Especially the data on release dates and the various issues were indispensable. Of course, the discography was not complete (it was issued before people from all over the world started selling Bowie stuff on Ebay) and there were also some minor mistakes. However, these issues were negligible. A fantastic book.

Jarman, Marshall & Reto Stöcklin (2018), David Bowie - World 7" Records Discography 1964 - 1981 - Special Edition Revised and Updated, Marmot Publishing, Geneva, ISBN 978-2-8399-2188-6

Finally, there was an updated version of Jarman's book, co-authored by long-time collector Reto Stöcklin. It's in colour, enhanced, expanded and corrected. Well... some obvious mistakes have not been corrected. I wonder why the Australian "Heroes" EP is still listed under 1978...
My bundle came with a 1988 interview CD and a "checklist" booklet (also shown).

Another rather early discography. It provides lists of officially released records, bootlegs, videos, movies, etc.
This is a nice discography, which provides a lot of information that must have been elusive at the time. But, as so often in the case of early discographies, some of that information is based on hearsay. The 1976 Argentine compilation David Bowie is listed as a re-issue of the 1967 Deram album, the Collection Blanche compilation is listed as a 1977 release (although it has a 1978 tour shot on the cover), a non-existent third issue of the Japanese Best Deluxe album is listed as Golden Double, and the Philippine issue of Scary Monsters miraculously becomes a Portuguese release. But be that as it may, it was probably the most comprehensive discography at the time, and with all its pictures it's nice to look at.

A nice illustrated discography, providing track lists for many albums (including bootlegs). What is strange is that it doesn't give release dates for the records, not even years! However, it's a useful publication that also includes a flexi with the 1964 Tonight interview.

Pegg, Nicholas (2011), The Complete David Bowie, sixth edition, Titan, London, ISBN 9780857682901

Pegg, Nicholas (2016), The Complete David Bowie, seventh edition, Titan, London, ISBN 9781785653650

When it gets to information on individual songs (recording dates and places etc.), Pegg is my first choice. The book also comprises a lot of discographical information. There can hardly be a more comprehensive introduction to the music of David Bowie. Pegg has regularly revised and updated his book, so that it has become the reference book on all things Bowie.

Of course, Pitt's fantastic account of Bowie's early years is no discography, but it gives a lot of background information on recording sessions, etc. And sometimes it's quite telling what Pitt does not write: for example, Pitt's failure to mention that Bowie anonymously sang on hit compilations is strong evidence for the assumption that Bowie never did. And Pitt, as Bowie's manager in the 1960s, would have known!

Robinson, John (ed.) (2020), Ultimate Record Collection: Bowie - Part 2: 1977-89, Bandlab Technologies, London

Robinson, John (ed.) (2021), Ultimate Record Collection: Bowie - Part 3: 1990-2016, Bandlab Technologies, London

Three special editions of the Uncut magazine, chronicling Bowie's work from 1964 to 2016. Each issue lists (and shows in detailed pictures) every UK release from the respective era covered, commented by people who were involved with Bowie at the time. It also occasionally refers to (and shows) other issues than those from the UK, provides a list of rarities with the current value, etc.
Strictly speaking, it's not a collectors' discography, since it does not include any information on how to distinguish different issues, etc. But it has some value for collectors, since the detailed pictures of the singles are nice. It's less accurate as regards the albums - especially in the the case of the early albums the copies shown are definitely not always first issues (counterfeit US The Man Who Sold the World, Gem logo version of the UK Hunky Dory, UK Ziggy Stardust with MainMan logo...). But apart from these typical problems I couldn't find any major mistakes. So it's still nice to read.
At least the first of the three magazines was re-issued with a different cover when the issues were sold as a triple pack (ISBN 978-1-914551-66-6). I don't know if the covers of the other two issues were also changed.

A beautiful full-colour price guide to Bowie vinyl bootlegs. It is not a complete discography of Bowie's bootlegs - if you want something like that, you should go for the books by Frifelt. This book contains information about the years of release etc., but basically it's a list of assorted bootlegs with prices - that's it!
It has been criticised that the book does not carefully enough distinguish different issues, but as I've written in various entries on this website, it's difficult to determine what the "first" and "second issue" of a bootleg is. At least as a starting point this book is a useful item. And no valuation guide can be anything but a starting point!
I do not regularly keep track of the development of the current prices of my bootlegs, but by and large, the prices listed seem to be realistic.
The records are sorted in an unusual way: not according to the year of release, but according to the age of the material that is on them. Not a bad idea, in fact.

Another pleasant biography with a lot of discographical information. However, some of it seems to be based on hearsay. For example, I really doubt that there were Russian Bowie singles on RCA. If there had been Russian single releases in the 1970s (which I don't believe at all), they would certainly have been issued on the government-owned Melodija label. Moreover, he turns the US release Starting Point into a German compilation, etc.
But who's perfect? At least he gives release dates for some compilations, a kind of information that can't be found anywhere else. Of course, I don't know how reliable these dates are.

Part two of Thompson's Bowie biography. While the biographical part is well-researched and even more detailed than that of part one, the discographical information is again interesting, but sometimes compiled a bit sloppily: Penny Lane and A Little Bit Me... are listed as potential Bowie songs (a theory that was clearly outdated by 2006!). But be that as it may, this is a book worth buying.

Heylin gives an entertaining account of the development of the rock bootleg scene from its beginnings to the early 1990s. Of course, Bowie is repeatedly mentioned. The infamous "Operation Moonbeam" of 1979 is discussed in much detail.

Not a book on Bowie, but a discography of what the author considered to be "the most important" rock musicians at the time of writing. Of course, it includes Bowie, and - unlike all other books I've seen - gives exact months of release for most of the RCA CDs. But, alas, most (if not all) of the dates are wrong, as can be concluded from information provided by Rob Davison.

German issue of Stardust, Rayguns & Moonage Daydreams.
A biography of Bowie (mainly up to the mid-1970s) as a comic. Nice!

This is the German edition of the infamous Backstage Passes, and it's a very interesting book... After having read some early biographies of Bowie, I had always had the feeling that Angela had been treated a bit unfair. After reading this book I fully understood why he divorced her.
Things would be better if the book was at least entertaining, but even a professional co-writer couldn't improve Angela Bowie's style, which I would simply call dull, primitive and vulgar.

Claire, Vivian (1980), David Bowie, translated by Gabriele Meierding-Schwitzkowski, Bastei-Lübbe, Bergisch-Gladbach, ISBN 3-404-60016-9

The second book is simply a slightly updated German translation of the first.
Claire's quite outdated book wasn't particularly good, but it was the second Bowie biography I've ever read. And, by and large, the general facts were correct (more or less...).

A collection of... well... stories by people who were "there" at certain events in Bowie's life. It includes stories by "celebrities" like George Underwood, Dana Gillespie, Rick Wakeman etc., but also stories by fans and average concert-goers. Nice idea!

A collection of interviews with all kinds of people Bowie had been associated with so far.

The German translation of a rather obscure 1975 biography called Presenting David Bowie (with a few short updates). I once liked it, but forgive me, I was 14 when I first read it. A rather poorly written book.

A coffee table book in a box, chronicling Bowie's life with the typical album-by-album approach. It has lots of replicas of posters, concert flyers etc. I must admit that I haven't read it yet, although that shouldn't take too long, because it consists mainly of pictures.
For the time being, I use it as a kind of bookend for Bowie records in the incompletely filled final LP rack of my Bowie record shelves. No joke!
The first picture shows the box, the second picture shows the book.

I just couldn't resist... This is a picture book, basically consisting of "wimmelpictures" on which you can look for different incarnations of Bowie in various Bowie-related settings (... in Berlin, ... in space, ... in fashion, etc.). Nice to look at!

This is the German edition of Hewitt's Bowie - Album by Album, and it's the ultimate coffee table book on Bowie, well-written and nice to look at, with numerous glossy pictures. There are some minor mistakes in it, but I couldn't find anything serious. The only problem is that the author writes from the point of view of a fan: there's some careful criticism concerning Tonight and Never Let Me Down, but apart from that Bowie seems to have released only masterpieces. But by and large, it's a nice introduction to the work of David Bowie.

Hewitt, Paolo (2016) Bowie - Retrospektive, third, expanded edition, Edel, Hamburg, ISBN 978-3-8419-0467-6

An updated issue of the book, this time as a softcover edition.

The story of John "Hutch" Hutchinson, of Bowie & Hutch and Feathers fame, who also played guitar for Bowie in 1973. Hutchinson is neither a professional writer nor a rock critic, so he has a very down-to-earth style. And, of course, this is one of those "inside view" books, so that we do not only get the rock'n'roll, but also the sex and the drugs! Does that sound alarming? Don't be afraid, it's written with a fondness for Bowie and the "olden days" and never goes into detail where it would become embarrassing. A really recommendable book!

Another Bowie book by Omnibus Press. This time one that complements their In His Own Words. Bowie's career is told in the words of old companions, collegues and... er... Angela Bowie. Although I've had this book for quite a while, I must admit that I haven't had the time to read it yet. So it's just here for completeness.

This is not a biography, but a kind of long essay on Bowie, analysing Bowie's career from several points of view, especially in the light of recurrent motives in his work.

A German novel on David Bowie... quite weird. Not necessarily essential reading.

Well... the title says it.

A likeable tour diary by Bowie's keyboard player from the 1978 tour (deceased 1995).

The title says all... But, by the way, I still wonder who "Miles" is. It might be Miles Charlesworth, who has also worked for Omnibus Press (see the David Bowie Black Book), but who knows?

An issue from The Anabas Look Book Series - and that's what it looks like. Despite the title there are more pictures than words, but some of them are really great (at least as long as you don't mind incorrect captions...).

This is the German edtion of the English book of the same name. A beautiful selection of Mick Rock's famous photos from the Ziggy-era, with comments by Bowie himself.

The German translation of Sandford's Loving the Alien. Informative, entertaining and well-written.

Du is a Swiss glossy magazine for intellectuals. In 2003 they dedicated an entire issue to Bowie, full of interviews, analyses, photos etc. I didn't feel the urge to buy all 22 different cover pictures it was published with.

Basically a lookbook, but nice...

This is a collection of articles on various aspects of Bowie's music and personality, written by music journalists, and, occasionally, fellow musicians, etc. Nice to read.

Tremlett, George (1976), The David Bowie Story, second edition, Futura Publications, London, ISBN 0 8600 7051 4

In the context of Bowie somebody (though I can't remember who and where) once called him "the inevitable George Tremlett". In fact, the first edition of this book was the first true biography of Bowie ever written. Note that the second edition is simply a re-print, except for the chronology at the end, which was updated to cover most of 1975.

This is the German edition of Tremlett's Biography of David Bowie (which was soon re-written to become David Bowie - Living on the Brink). About twenty years after his first book on Bowie, Tremlett published a major update. Think of him what you like, but at least he's got an entertaining style of writing.

An interesting book, very nice to read. There isn't much discographical data in it, but maybe that's better: even as late as 1999 Welch was still spreading the rumour of the "second King Bees single" You're Holding Me Down (see here for more on that). Strangely, that single is mentioned in the text, but missing from the short discography at the end.

Zanetta, sometimes simply called "Z", had originally belonged to the Andy Warhol circle, and then, in the early 1970s, to MainMan's entourage. With the help of such "reliable" sources as Angie Bowie and Tony DeFries (and professional writer Henry Edwards, to prevent the book from becoming a mess) he felt obliged to write his own Bowie biography.

Isolar 2 - Bowie 1978 (USA, 1978)

Serious Moonlight Tour '83 (Europe, 1983)

Outside Tour 95 (1995)

My favourite Bowie site on the web, created by Ruud Altenburg. The title speaks for itself. It's always up to date and gives a lot of information about albums, 12" singles and CDs of any kind. Furthermore, you can find information about practically every known Bowie song.
Particularly recommendable is the forum, and within the forum the vinyl albums and 10"/12" singles discographies.

Although Stefan Westman's website doesn't seem to be updated anymore, it's still a fantastic site, especially because of its information on singles and bootlegs. In fact, it is still a standard (online) resource when looking for information about bootlegs.

Chas Pearson's great website on, well... what its title says - with complete 7" discographies of several countries!

This music blog is run by Rob Davison, co-ordinator of RCA Europe's CD programme, 1983-1987. Rob has given me a lot of valuable first-hand information on the release of Bowie's European RCA CDs. Here's his account of the history of RCA Europe's Bowie CDs.

A website dedicated to discographies of 7" singles. You can sort them by artist, label, etc. As you might have expected, it's very incomplete, but nonetheless helpful.

The Amazon websites are not the worst starting point if you are looking for release dates of newer items (such as releases of the last 10 years). Although the release dates given might sometimes be the projected rather than the actual dates, they give you at least some idea of what time of year a record was released.
Later update: at some point, Amazon stopped giving release dates for records. So while I used Amazon websites for research in the past, as of 2022, they have become useless in this respect.

Discogs is a website that collects discographical data on all kinds of musicians, provided by the users. The data is not always correct, but since Discogs has grown enormously over the years it has become an indispensable tool for checking what issues of a record there are. You can compare catalogue numbers (which might be helpful to find out when exactly a record was released), watch label variations, etc. Since you can also buy records there, Discogs has also superseded Ebay as the most important market for record collectors.
Be careful, though: on Ebay you can (usually) see the actual item that you are going to buy. But Discogs uses stock photos, and many users list their records under the wrong issue. In case of doubt, contact the seller before buying!

A website dealing with anonymous hits compilations. Gives some useful information on the Hits '67 LP.

A website on Russian rock music. It also has a lot of information on Russian vinyl record labels (including Melodiya).

A great discography of Marc Bolan, also giving information on Bolan's contributions to Bowie's music and where he was not involved (Dib Cochran & the Earwigs).

This website allows you to identify the pressing plant of Melodiya releases.

And, last not least, Wikipedia might also be helpful in finding some information about records.