Finding Guide by Tony Gardner
- Big
Blue Books. (6 Boxes)
- Call No. : Z473.H15B445
- Little Blue Books. (8 Boxes)
- Call No. : Z473.H15L488
Emanuel Haldeman-Julius, publisher and writer, made books readily available
to the ordinary American reader that were inexpensive, covered an extraordinary
variety of subjects, and were easily obtained by mail-order. The Little Blue
Books, small enough to fit in a shirt pocket, sold for 5 cents. The larger
format Big Blue Books sold for 10 cents. An estimated 500 million of these
books had sold by 1951 when Haldeman-Julius died.
The Library's collection was assembled by retired University Library Dean
Norman Tanis. It includes over 1,300 Little and Big Blue Books, an example
of the printing plates, canceled checks, and books from Mr. Haldeman-Julius
own library. In 1990 Mr. Jack Botwin a former Blue Book salesman donated
2,000 more to our collection, making this on e of the largest collections
of Haldeman-Julius publications.
Fred Liberman has indexed the publications in Little and Big Blue Books:
an index to the California State University, Northridge Library collection
of E. Haldeman-Julius Blue Books (Z473.H15
L48 1990). The complete
collection holdings can be accessed on the Library's
catalog.
