On the 50th anniversary, the books were retailing for around $1.99, and the company reported that they had sold one and a half billion Little Golden Books.īy the 60th anniversary, over 1,200 unique Little Golden Book Titles had been released as well as the reprinting of the popular classic titles. The 1980s marked the 40th anniversary of Little Golden Books, and in 1986 the One Billionth Little Golden Book was printed and sold with a price of 89 cents. In 1971, the popular Sesame Street title The Monster at the End of this Book was published, and in 1974 Little Golden Books about Barbie made their debut. In the 1970s, a Little Golden Book cost 59 cents. The sixties also marked a new Little Golden Books focus on popular Saturday morning cartoon series like Huckleberry Hound and The Flintstones. The first price increase for Little Golden Books occurred in 1962 when they went up to 29 cents.īy 1967 more than 200 individual Little Golden Book titles had sold 1 million copies each. The eighth book in the initial Little Golden series, The Poky Little Puppy, ranks today as the best-selling children’s book of all time with over 14 million copies sold. This Little Piggy and Other Counting Rhymes by Phyllis Fraser A few facts:

The Poky Little Puppy by Janette Sebring Lowrey Prayers for Little Children by Eloise Wilkin The first twelve books published in 1942 were:Įloise Wilkin’s Mother Goose by Eloise Wilkin Each book consisted of 42 pages, with 28 pages printed in two-tone color and 14 in four-tone color, a tactic which helped the publisher save money.

With an initial series of twelve titles each having a print run of 50,000 copies, the first Little Golden Books were priced at a very affordable 25 cents each. One and a half million books were sold in just five months. The Little Golden Books were printed in September 1942 and for sale in stores in October. Simon & Schuster first published the series, with Western Printing and Lithographing Company in Racine, Wisconsin doing the printing. Instead of just being sold in bookstores, Little Golden Books were sold in grocery stores, train stations, five-and-dimes - places children and parents were likely to be shopping together. The marketing concept behind Little Golden Books was different as well. While looking for new book ideas for the children’s division of Western Publishing Company, Georges Duplaix came up with the concept behind Little Golden Books - small, colorful, durable, affordable books made just for kids. They were selling for $2-3 each when a loaf of bread cost just ten cents! Before then, children’s books of the 1930s and 1940s were generally large, cumbersome and expensive.

Tootle little golden book 1945