Collecting Little Golden Books [Paperback]

Steve Santi (Author)

Book Description

Series: Collecting Little Golden Books

Little Golden Books[registered] are highly treasured by collectors. Now collectors can accurately determine today's value for these childhood favourites in this updated edition. The world's leading authority on Little Golden Books[registered] tracks the history and evolution of these books since their debut in September 1942. Featuring more than 3,500 photographs and current values in US dollars for Little Golden Books[registered], Golden Records, and the Big, Giant and Deluxe lines, this new comprehensive edition is certain to be a best-seller.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Steve Santi has been collecting Little Golden Books since 1979. Santi is a nationally renowned expert in the field, having exhibited in such places as Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. and appeared on US television.

Product Details

• Paperback: 560 pages
• Publisher: Krause Publications; 5 edition (October 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0873496264
• ISBN-13: 978-0873496261
• Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 8.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #829,737 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Golden Books Guide...Pure Gold!, October 16, 2002

By 

Terrie (Little Chute, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Collecting Little Golden Books: A Collector's Identification and Price Guide (Paperback)

I really enjoyed reading the history of Little Golden Books and Western Publishing that begins this useful and fascinating guidebook.
This book covers the numbering system of the Little Golden Books, the changing prices, how to determine editions (more complicated than you'd think), and how to determine value and condition of a book. I shows pictures of each of the Little Golden Book covers and lists them by book number, the new numbering system, Disney titles, and activity titles. The other members of the Golden Book family like Big Little Golden Books, First Little Golden Books, Little Little Golden Books, as well as promotional titles and foreign titles are included. This guidebook also contains Ding Dong School Books, Eager Reader series, Giant Little Golden Books, and Little Golden records. It includes Elf Books, Wonder Books, Treasure Books and Tell-A-Tale books, too. It tells how to date a book by the spine design and shows back cover designs through the years.
Some people have found the indexing of this book to be awkward but I did not. I was easily able to find all of the books and information I was looking for. I collect Little Golden Books for my own private use and not for resale and I love this book because it has all the front covers pictured and tells the author and the illustrator. It rekindles the old memories of titles from my childhood that I then search out to share with my nieces and nephews. I especially love Eloise Wilkins' and Garth Williams'numerous Little Golden Book illustrations and this book helped me to discover so many that I wasn't aware of before. It comes with me to many, many garage sales and has been helpful in protecting me from highway robbery that some flea market sellers would have liked to commit! The information it contains about value and how to tell what edition a book is has brought many an inflated flea market price down to a reasonable level for me. I also use it to mark off the books and editions that I have in my collection and I make notes in the book about the quality of the copies I have, so I avoid duplication and I know when an upgrade is a good idea for a purchase. Steve Santi has done a super job of compiling the data on these national treasures and I recommend this book to one and all. This is splendid Americana and is filled with lots of happy memories. You'll like it.

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Bible for Little Golden Books, June 14, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Collecting Little Golden Books: A Collector's Identification and Price Guide (Collecting Little Golden Books, 3rd ed) (Paperback)

If you are a bookseller, collector or have any interest in Little Golden Books, Elf or Wonder Books ... this is a must for your library. Covers are in black and white, but that is what keeps the price reasonable.. You can clearly see various changes in the different covers for various editions. I find the references helpful.. since a lot of my customers know a title but not if is a a little golden book, an elf book etc... Santi also lists the illustrators so if someone is looking for a book by their favorite illustrator it is easy to find! Fairly priced, and very useful! Also new to this edition is a section on Whitman Tell a Tale Books. This is definitely the reference book for all your childhood board books!

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Mixed emotions, December 16, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Collecting Little Golden Books: A Collector's Identification and Price Guide (Paperback)

I eagerly awaited my copy of Collecting Little Golden Books, but was disappointed when it arrived. Yes, it was certainly fun to look at pictures of the old book covers, which brought back many memories. However, I was puzzled at the author's omission of page numbers in the indexes. What is the point of having pages and pages of indexing with no page numbers? If you want to look up a particular title, you must thumb through the entire large book and hope your eye falls on it. Also there were quite a few typos, and anywhere in the text that the author refers you to a particular page, the page number has been inadvertently left out. I consider that to be very sloppy editing, particularly in a 4th edition. Has no one else noticed these mistakes?