SPINE STYLES

When I learned that the iconic gold spine I had seen for years on Little Golden Books (LGB) was NOT the first spine, I was quite surprised. At that point in time, I had never come across an LGB with any other type, so it caught me off guard.

As we've already learned, the first 35 LGB's wore a blue cloth spine that collectors covet. Publishers introduced the gold spine with imprinted images in 1947 and over the years, it has received some minor alterations that we'll take a look at.

In general, the appearance of an LGB's spine can help with determining age. Below are the dates one can attribute to the various spines:

1942-47: Blue Spine

1947-49: Matte Gold spine with leaves, flowers, & animals

1949-69: Antique gold spine with leaves, flowers, & plants

1953-56: Red spine w/Mickey Mouse heads on the Mickey Mouse Club books

1955-59: Reddish Christmas spine on Christmas stories

1969-pres: Glossy gold spine with chickens, crickets, and elephants

Examples of Each Spine

1942-47 [Blue]

Blue Matte Spine

1947-1949 [Matte Gold]

Matte gold spine with leaves, flowers, and animals

1949-1969 [Antique Gold]

Antique gold spine with leaves, flowers, and plants

1953-1956 [Red]

Red spine with Mickey Mouse heads--only found on Mickey Mouse Club Books

1955 -1959 [Reddish]

Reddish gold spines with swirling vegetation--only on Christmas stories

1969-present [Glossy Gold]

Glossy Gold spine with chickens, crickets, elephants, and other animals