peterhaleas posted: " Three Little Blue Books picked out at random Books are expensive! Every time I destroy my bank account to fund my addiction, I think these words and add a few I can't write here. BOOKS—ARE— EXPENSIVE—! The other day, our University Archivist Gre"
Every time I destroy my bank account to fund my addiction, I think these words and add a few I can't write here. BOOKS—ARE— EXPENSIVE—!
The other day, our University Archivist Greg opened up some drawers in the Rare Books area for me to look at—
"Check these out."
Pulling out the drawers revealed over a thousand little pocket pamphlet type books, light sky blue and faded. I glanced at the covers: King Lear, An Intro to Chaucer, Famous Russian Stories, Herbert Hoover: The Fatuous Failure in the White House. . .literally an entire reading life could be spent inside these. Any subject, any classic, all right here.
What are the Little Blue Books?
Way back in 1919, Emanuel Haldeman-Julius read a 10-cent copy of The Ballad of Reading Gaol in a frenzy. Seeing that so cheap a book could be dearer than any possession, Haldeman-Julius bought a publishing house and made the "Little Blue Books", hoping to bring ideas and literature to workers who couldn't afford them otherwise. Especially important was their size: able to fit in a pocket. Eager to reach people, Haldeman-Julius sold them in drug stores, toy stores, and even created a line of book vending machines for them. The Little Blue Books became so popular that an estimated 300-500 million were sold by the time they stopped publication in 1978.
Discover the same joy as 300 million other people in opening a slim, sky-blue faded cover of any topic in the world. Reading heaven lies in Iowa State Special Collections, a Little Blue Book for any dream you have.
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