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A representative of the Kansas State Historical Society was kind enough
to send me a copy of:<br><br>
Scott, Mark. "The Little Blue Books in the War on Bigotry and
Bunk," <i>Kansas History</i>, vol. 1, no. 3, Autumn 1978, pp.
155-76. <br><br>
Here's one factual tidbit of interest to us:
<dl>
<dd>"Little Blue Books on language skills included <i>Common Faults
in English</i> (47,000) and <i>Esperanto Self Taught</i> (17,000)."
(p. 165)
</dl>I think these are 1927 sales figures, from Haldeman-Julius' 1928
memoir <i>The First Hundred Million</i>.<br><br>
I haven't seen this title listed among the Little Blue Books. I see
this title listed:
<dl>
<dd>Litt, D.O.S. Lowell. <i>Esperanto for Beginners</i>. #465
</dl>Esperanto was a popular topic in the radical working class movement
of the first half of the 20th century. Our own Mark Starr (1894-1985),
originally a Welsh coal miner, pioneer in working class education and
advocate of Esperanto, early activist in the Sennacieca Asocio Tutmonda,
later Education Director of the International Ladies Garment Workers
Union and signatory of the Second Humanist Manifesto, is one of the
better known figures in this history.<br><br>
I have numerous essays by and about Mark Starr in English and Esperanto
on my web site. You could begin with this reference book entry:<br><br>
<a href="http://www.autodidactproject.org/other/starr2.html" eudora="autourl">
http://www.autodidactproject.org/other/starr2.html</a><br><br>
For more information on Haldeman-Julius (not an Esperantist, to my
knowledge), see:<br><br>
<a href="http://www.autodidactproject.org/other/hj1.html">
"Haldeman-Julius, The Little Blue Books, and the Theory of Popular
Culture"</a> by Dale M. Herder.<br>
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