Haldeman-Julius Publications Collection

Collection — Multiple Containers

Identifier: KHC-8

Staff Only

Content Description

This collection contains 497 Little Blue Books, which were published by the E. Haldeman-Julius Company in Girard, Kansas For a full listing of the books in this collection, see the Index.

Dates

Creation: c. 1919-1978

Historical Note

The Little Blue Books were a series of books published and sold by the E. Haldeman-Julius Company in Girard, Kansas, which was founded by Emanuel Haldeman-Julius. Haldeman-Julius was a socialist writer and started producing the Little Blue Books as a way of cheaply producing and selling literature so that anyone could purchase and have access to great works of literature, general knowledge, and entertainment. The little blue books were also fairly small in size so that workers could carry them in their pockets. Topics included famous works of literature by authors such as William Shakespeare and Oscar Wilde, as well as how-to books, cook books, joke books, and other topics of literary, educational, or entertainment value. These books were sold for very cheap - from around 25 to 5 cents - and were sold around the world from 1919 through 1978.