Little Blue Books
Little Blue Books are a series of affordable, pocket-sized publications created by publisher Emanuel Haldeman-Julius in the early 20th century, specifically starting in 1919. Aimed at making literature and culture accessible to the average American, these books were priced as low as five cents, allowing millions of readers to explore a wide variety of subjects, including classic novels, plays, biographies, and instructional guides. Each book was printed on low-quality pulp paper, wrapped in light blue covers, and measured 3.5 by 5 inches, with lengths varying between 32 and 128 pages. Haldeman-Julius, motivated by his own formative experiences with literature, managed to produce massive print runs, sometimes reaching 24,000 copies in a single day. While he had socialist leanings, the content of Little Blue Books spanned diverse themes, including literature, religion, practical skills, and popular culture, rarely focusing on contentious political topics. Over the decades, these publications significantly contributed to the literary landscape and provided foundational reading experiences for future authors, including well-known figures like Louis L'Amour and Saul Bellow. Little Blue Books thus played a pivotal role in democratizing access to knowledge and culture in America during the 1920s and 1930s.
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Little Blue Books
Before widespread college education and mass media provided almost universal access to information and entertainment, publisher Emanuel Haldeman-Julius’s Little Blue Books, selling for just a few cents each, put great novels, plays, works of history and philosophy, and an enormous variety of other books into the hands of millions of ordinary American readers.
Working from a small printing company in Girard, Kansas, publisher Emanuel Haldeman-Julius created a nationwide sensation in popular culture by producing what came to be known as Little Blue Books, which were affordable editions of literary works that many working Americans might otherwise never have read or encountered. Haldeman-Julius’s experience working as a journalist for many years gave him helpful tools and contacts when he launched his own publishing venture. He was purportedly inspired to create the Little Blue Book series because he had been deeply moved by an inexpensive edition of an Oscar Wilde poem when he was a teenager.
Starting in 1919 with the publication of books priced at ten to twenty-five cents, Haldeman-Julius did such successful business that he was able to drop his price to five cents per copy by the early 1920s. A single day’s press run was 24,000 copies. Printed on low-grade “pulp” paper, wrapped in light blue covers, and bound with staples, the pocket-sized books measured just 3.5 by 5 inches. Volumes ranged in thickness from 32 to 128 pages. Haldeman-Julius advertised Little Blue Books in mainstream newspapers and magazines, sometimes offering coupons and subscription opportunities to facilitate ordering.
Although Haldeman-Julius was a socialist, only a small number of his titles dealt with socialism or other subjects considered controversial during the 1920s. Little Blue Books included editions of Shakespeare’s plays, volumes of fiction and poetry by some of the world’s most acclaimed authors, biographies of literary and historical figures, dictionaries, and books on Christianity and other religions. Among the Little Blue Books disseminating American culture were songbooks, collections of jokes and riddles, instructional books on topics as diverse as candy making and golf, and volumes on such popular themes as marriage, pregnancy, and child care.
Impact
Haldeman-Julius intended his Little Blue Books to make exposure to history, literature, and culture easy and inexpensive for the American public. During the 1920s and 1930s, Little Blue Books disseminated knowledge and culture to vast numbers of readers. They also provided important early reading experiences for later authors as diverse as Western adventure writer Louis L’Amour and Nobel Prize–winning novelist Saul Bellow.
Bibliography
Dean, Virgil, ed. John Brown to Bob Dole: Movers and Shakers in Kansas History. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2006.
Mordell, Albert, ed. The World of Haldeman-Julius, by Emanuel Haldeman-Julius. New York: Twayne, 1960.