Little Blue Books |
Ten Cent Pocket Series -- 239 Books, 64 pages, 1922
The images below show what is likely the first catalog in the Ten Cent Pocket Series, given the number of titles (probably Spring of 1922). This annotated catalog attempted to explain the contents of each booklet, but in general did a pretty poor job of it: |
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| More informative than the blurbs on the individual booklets is the catalog's introduction, beginning with the never-shy editor's photograph and explaining the philosophy of the series. The intro is followed by a table of contents (not shown) dividing the booklets into 11 categories: |
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Little Blue Books -- 842 Books, 32 pages, 1925
Here's one of the few catalogs that I've seen with a date on the cover -- May, 1925. With a postage-prepaid back cover, this catalog was meant to be mailed directly to a potential subscriber: |
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| The individual annotations are gone, as is the table of contents — you know a book by its title only. What remains, however, is the division of titles into categories (some curious) now grown to more than 25: |
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| There are two sets of order forms at the end of the catalog: |
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Little Blue Books -- 1015 Books, 32 pages, 1926
The title page of this catalog carries a disclaimer in the second paragraph: the title on the book itself might be different from the title listed in the catalog. Haldeman-Julius was famous for this, and often retitled the books themselves if he thought it would make the book sell better. Advertisements indicate an early 1926 date.
The back page has an advertisement for Modern Library titles (all from the Boni-Liveright era, ML collectors will want to know) — evidently Haldeman-Julius decided to sell what he could to make money, including other publisher's books! |
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| Titles are divided into over 40 categories: |
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| The order form is now a two-page spread, moved to the center of the catalog: |
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| The really important thing about this catalog is the announcement of the Big Blue Books series at an introductory price of 50¢ each: |
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Little Blue Books -- 1092 Books, 32 pages, 1927
But for the addition of 77 new titles (front cover shown) and the removal of the table of contents, this catalog is little changed from the 1015-title one shown above. The only item of note is the Big Blue Books at the end of the catalog, noting the new price of 25¢: |
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Little Blue Books -- 1250 Books, 32 pages, 1927
Jumping to 1250 titles, this catalog adds a plethora of areas and sub-categories. For example, Entertainment and Amusement has sub-categories for Puzzles, Riddles, etc.; Games & How to Play Them; Nonsense & Other Fun; and Miscellaneous.
For some inexplicable reason, the order form, now moved to the last page, has been obscured by heavy red printing announcing free postage. The problem is that it's darn near impossible to use the order form to — well — order books! |
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Little Blue Books -- 1260 Books, 32 pages, 1927
This catalog had no room for an order form, the list of titles extending to the back page (not shown) -- so the first page (left below) asks that you check off the numbers of the books you want directly in the catalog, and send the whole thing back.
A unique aspect of this catalog is an asterisk to the left of each title recently added to the series. Note for example on page two (right below) the asterisk next to 109 Facts You Should Know About the Classics, replacing the previous 109 title Dante and the Other Waning Classics, Volume 1. |
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Little Blue Books -- 1375 Books, 64 pages, 1929
Now doubled in size to 64 page, the table of contents — grown to over 100 categories — appears on the front and back covers. The order form has moved back to a two-page spread in the center. Copyrights on the highest numbered books date this catalog to 1929. Oddly, while the first page advertises 1375 books, a section called Additions lists books numbered to 1417: |
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| The listing of titles only goes to page 49; the remaining pages are filled with advertisements for other Haldeman-Julius ventures. These included Joseph McCabe's 40-volume Key to Culture series as well as the works of H-J's close friend Clarence Darrow who defended John T. Scopes in the famous 1925 trial over teaching evolution in the classrooms: |
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Little Blue Books -- 1455 Books, 96 pages, 1929, 8 1/2" tall X 5 1/4" wide
This is an exceptional catalog, and the issue format may be unique. Unlike all other catalogs, this one has the same dimensions as a Big Blue Book with a three-color card stock cover: |
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| The catalog is illustrated throughout. It begins with the usual catagory sections, but with more information [Click image for blowup]: |
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| But it also has an author index [Click image for blowup] ... |
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| ... as well as a numeric index [Click image for blowup]: |
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| Scattered throughout are ads for other H-J publications and specialized products [Click image for blowup] ... |
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| ... including a boxed set of all the Shakespeare LBBs: |
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Little Blue Books -- 1500 Books, 128 pages, 1929, 10" tall X 3 1/4" wide
Here's another exceptional catalog in unique fomat — twice the height of a standard LBB but close to the standard width (Click image for blowup): |
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| The catalog was created to celebrate reaching a major milestone — publishing 1500 titles in the series. The order blank, letting you circle the numbers of the bookets you wanted, took up the usual two-page spread at the center of the catalog (Click image for blowup): |
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| To celebrate the event, the catalog offered the "levant leather cover" at the reduced rate of 50 cents. You could get the cover free if you bought the complete set of 1500 titles for the reduced price of $45.00 including postage, quite a bargain from the standard price of $75.00. As usual, returns were not accepted (Click image for blowup): |
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| The last third of the catalog is devoted to advertising other Haldeman-Julius publications including the Big Blue Books (the first 49 titles in print at the time, available at the special Jubilee price of 10 cents a copy or $4.65 for the set) with its own leather cover (75 cents); the various Joseph McCabe sets (Key to Love & Sex, Key to Culture); The Debunker magazine, both as a subscription or for back issues; The American Freeman journal; and various hardback books. There's also a double-page pitch asking readers to lend the company money (multiples of $100) at a guaranteed interest of 6% (Click image for blowup): |
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Little Blue Books -- 1773 Books, 64 pages, 1943
This catalog has nearly all its pages filled with listings (up to #1815), with index to categories on pages 60 to 62: |
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This back also appears on some copies of the 1823 catalog, below.
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| Page 63 shows H-J's expansion into other areas to keep his presses running with this ad selling — of all things — personalized stationery. Unless my dating of this catalog is way off, this offering is odd in that wartime rationing of paper was still in effect: |
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Little Blue Books -- 1823 Books, 64 pages, 1944
Look at the back page — now he's selling gummed labels! |
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| LBB enthusiast Kate Shuster talks about this catalog at her blog. She was so taken by it that she scanned in the whole thing: Click here to see it but be warned that it's quite large and may take a few minutes to load. |
Little Blue Books -- 1845 Books, 64 pages, 1947
This catalog is most notable for the snazzy new logo on the title page, plus the jump in price from 5¢ to 10¢ a copy — quite a jump! |
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| But what happened here? The price dropped back to 5¢, $89.75 for the complete set! Everything else in the catalog is exactly the same, including prices for ancillary products such as gummed labels and imprinted stationery. |
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Little Blue Books -- 1845 Books, 64 pages, 1948 [?]
The catalogs above and the one below have the same basic content -- 1845 titles, with the highest number 1856 (12 numbers weren't used). But individual booklets are back up to 10 cents each, and the price for the complete set has jumped to $179.50. Also the type has been reset: |
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| There are now ads for gummed stickers, imprinted postcards, letterhead and other forms of commercial stationery, and most striking this ad for pamphlet printing: |
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| Here's an alternate cover for the same catalog (exact same contents), pretty risqué for the series: |
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Little Blue Books -- 1892 Books [?], 64 pages, 1952 [?]
Booklets are numbered up to 1900 in this late catalog: |
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| Listed booklets include 1892 A B C Color Book — notable because this number has been alleged not to have been used: |
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| Gone from the catalog is any mention of Haldeman-Julius Publications, nor are there any ads for ancillary printing services. Also noteworthy is a lack of consistency in the typesetting, especially noticeable on this page — quality has gone down-hill as the operation is taken over by the late H-J's son Henry: |
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Little Blue Books -- More than 1900 Books, 64 pages, Post-1952
Booklets are numbered up to 1914 in this late catalog with the most boring cover ever (in utter contrast to the 1929 oversized and extremely attractive one): |
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| The quality, attention to detail, and even simple editing have gone totally out the window as the price raises to 15 cents a copy, as evidenced by the typos at the bottom of the left-hand page and the triple-redundancy of the last two entries (1913 & 1914) on the right: |
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Big Blue Books |
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