Collecting Little Golden BooksCollecting Little Golden Books Who among us has not enjoyed the tale of the “Poky Little Puppy” or “The Three Little Kittens” as a child? While preparing an estate sale, we came across a lot of children’s books, including t

Collecting Little Golden Books

Who among us has not enjoyed the tale of the “Poky Little Puppy” or “The Three Little Kittens” as a child? While preparing an estate sale, we came across a lot of children’s books, including the classic Little Golden Books.

After humble beginnings in Racine, Wisc., two salesmen from the troubled Hamming Whitman book company were able to sell over $40,000 worth of children’s books in 1916. Western Printing and Lithographing Company ended up taking over the struggling company after it left them with a ton of debt. Sam Lowe, who owned Bonnie Books, joined the company with the idea of bringing out a 10-cent children’s book in 1918.

A huge mistake almost wiped out the company when an S. S. Kresge employee confused dozen for gross and way too many books were printed. Lowe was able to sell the F.W. Woolworth and other companies the children’s books to sell year round because, at that time, children’s books were mostly sold and marketed as Christmas presents.

The company thrived and constantly kept out growing their factories – and even survived the Depression era – by producing puzzles and a new series of books called the Big Little Books. The first one printed was The Adventures of Dick Tracy. People were looking for inexpensive entertainment during those years.

In 1933, Western signed with Disney to have the rights to use their characters in their books. It wasn’t until 1947 when the company began producing “new” stories. The company joined in with the Artists and Writers Guild to expand the company and products offered. Dell Publishing and Simon and Schuster worked along with Western to produce “color comics” and other children’s books. Western also helped the war effort in the 1940s by printing maps, cards and books for the Red Cross and the soldiers.

In 1942, the folks from Simon and Schuster decided to produce 12 titles called The Little Golden books that would retail for 50 cents each, which was a huge bargain as books – at the time – were quite expensive at $2-3. These books were wildly popular with kids and families, but not librarians who considered them to not be good stories and cheaply made!

There is so much information on these books it is hard to address it all here, but remember – condition is everything! The edition number will be mentioned in the first or second page of the book. On the last page in the lower right hand corner you will find the edition. A=1st, Z=26th, AA=27. On the bottom of the first or second page you will see capital or lowercase letters A-E. The first letter to the left is the edition. After 1991 they used Roman Numerals. If you see none of these, it is a first edition.

Collecting these beautiful little books can be a lot of fun and doesn’t require a lot of money or space. It’s fun to note the changes over the year of the clothing, vehicles and other characters that were popular in different eras.

Happy Collecting!

Jillinda Falen has been buying and selling antiques for over 30 years. She is a licensed REALTOR and estate liquidation specialist. You can contact here through the Houston Home Journal or via email at jcfalen@gmail.com.

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