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.

Sometime in the 1920s, legendary magician and escapist Harry Houdini collaborated with fellow magician Walter Gibson to write three instructional books on magic for beginners. While the first book was completed and published before Houdini’s death on Halloween, October 31, 1926, the second was later published by Gibson in serialized form.

In 1927, Houdini’s wife published the third manuscript, which she found among his papers. Whitman then obtained the rights to this manuscript in 1933. The first 114 pages of this book feature Houdini’s work, while the rest is filled out by contributions from other magicians.

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!