Little Blue Books
About the Little Blue Books
The Little Blue Book series was original published in the United States, mainly in the 1920s and 1930s, by the Haldeman-Julius Publications company of Girard, Kansas. As originally published they were small books (usually 3 1/2 by 5 inches), with very small print, designed to fit in a pocket. Haldeman-Julius contracted with many different authors and experts of the day to bring educational information on their fields to the wider populace (as well as sometimes just for entertainment.)​ The books ranged from practical guides (how to write telegrams or upholster chairs) to social treatises (the consequences of the Ford five-day work week, or guides to courtship.) Condensed forms of popular books, or specialized areas of history. Everyone could find something within the catalogue of the Little Blue Book.
The Second Left Approach to the The Little Blue Books
There are some modern reprints of the Little Blue Books that are simply scans of the original books. In our opinion these don't make satisfying reading. As a result we are recreating the LBBs from the ground up digitally. This means complete retyping of the text and laying out the books afresh. We have chosen a larger form factor with a larger font to make the material much easier to consume than the originals.
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Obvious typos have been cleaned up, and some minor style tweaks will be made for clarity, but the text and contents of the book remains the same as it was when originally produced. Nothing there is being lost of reworded.
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The LBBs were very much of their time, and they offer a rare insight into the beliefs and views of the time period. Since we are reproducing the contents exactly, we are making no changes to what could be considered controversial or just outright incorrect (some of the scientific understandings for example) by modern understandings. The opinions in the books represent those of the original authors, and do not represent those of Second Left Publishing.