#Little leather library books value free#

They were originally included in packages of Whitman’s Chocolates, then sold for a dime (ten cents) a volume at Woolworth’s department store.Īdvertised in popular national magazines and soon available via mail order, the books took off and became quite popular. Out of fiscal necessity, the books were not much to look at the volumes measured approximately 3' by 4' and consisted of text within a simple, drab embossed cover. Their first prototype, a copy of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, was met with interest, and production began.

#Little leather library books value free#

The Boni Brothers, inspired by a promotion they saw in which a free small book was given with a purchase, set out to produce small, affordable copies of classic stories old enough to be in public domain, and free of copyright and royalties. With the First World War well underway, the economic climate of the time was changing rapidly, and manufacturers, publishers and consumers were struggling to find viable solutions. Much in the way that Victorian yellowbacks sought to put classic literature in more British hands by making them affordable, the Little Leather Library took an innovative approach to the mass-marketing of the classics in the United States. Scherman later went on to found the Book-of-the-Month Club in 1926. First conceived in New York City by brothers and bookshop owners Charles and Albert Boni, the firm came to reality with the help of Max Sackheim and Harry Scherman, two advertising executives the brothers approached. From 1916 to 1923, the Little Leather Library was a hot name in American publishing.