Big Little Books (BLB) have had a tremendous appeal to collectors since they first appeared featuring the likes of Mickey Mouse, Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon, Dick Tracy, Orphan Annie, The Phantom, Donald Duck, and so many others. In the course of this column, we’ll take you through a selection of them and explore some of the many nuances to collecting BLBs.

The world’s best-known and most beloved “wabbit,” Bugs Bunny emerged in the late 1930s from the fertile creative ground of Termite Terrace, the Warner Bros. cartoon studios run by Leon Schlesinger. While his look and tough New York attitude evolved over several early appearances, including 1938’s Porky’s Hare Hunt, he made his ‘official’ debut and uttered his classic line, “Eh, what’s up Doc?” in 1940’s The Wild Hare. In that animated short, Bugs matches wits with the inept Elmer Fudd, rabbit hunter and all-around loser. The two would continue their battle for decades to come, continuing with 1941’s Elmer’s Pet Rabbit, in which Bugs was finally named on-screen.

Bugs would also cross paths with virtually every other major Looney Tunes cartoon star over the years, sharing a particularly bitter (and hilarious) rivalry with Daffy Duck while also briefly crossing swords with the Road Runner’s usual nemesis, Wile E. Coyote (“Super Genius!”). Bugs garnered an Oscar nomination for 1942’s Hiawatha’s Rabbit Hunt, but the rabbit and director Friz Freleng would actually win the Academy Award for the 1958 short, Knighty Knight Bugs, in which Bugs outwitted the Black Knight (‘played’ by Yosemite Sam) and his dragon.

Years after Bugs ceased to appear in original theatrical short features, he maintained his stardom via endless television reruns of his adventures along with the rest of the Warner Bros. cartoon catalogue, regularly introducing whole new generations of fans to the wascally wabbit. Mel Blanc voiced Bugs until his death in 1989, as he did for so many of the other Warner Bros. characters, and helped to shape the distinctive crafty though charming personality that made Bugs an irresistible attraction to countless children through the years. Blanc even noted on many occasions that though he actually chewed on a carrot every time Bugs got ready to say his most famous line, he would spit it out immediately afterwards, as he was allergic to carrots! Following Blanc’s death, Bugs was voiced by the likes of Jeff Bergman and Greg Burson.

Bugs made his comic book debut in 1947 in the first issue of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies. A Sunday newspaper strip launched in 1943, and of course the character and his cohorts have since appeared in a plethora of film and TV animated productions, as well as an endless stream of licensed merchandise. Most recently, Bugs and the rest of the Warner Bros. cartoon team have turned up in feature films that blend their animated antics with live-action actors and celebrities like Michael Jordan and Steve Martin. 

If you’d like to know more about Big Little Books, check out The Big Big Little Book Book – An Overstreet Photo-Journal, which is an amazing compendium of information and images about Big Little Books and other publications associated with the form. It’s full color, 272 pages, and it’s packed with the history of these little classics. And it’s only $19.95!