This stanza from Dr. Holmes's introduction to his "Poems" of 1862 may
well be claimed by the Blue and Gold edition of the poets as its
passport to the recognition of future generations. But it will need no
passport; its own enduring charm is sufficient. The volumes of this
dainty series, while larger in all but thickness than the "Elzevirs,"
yet make their appeal by much the same qualities, compactness and
portability, with a suggestion of the Elzevirian plumpness. To the
attraction of the size is added the contrasted charm of the blue cover
and the gilt stamp and edges. That a Blue and Gold edition, in the
absence of its name qualities, becomes something far inferior may be
seen from a copy that has lost them in rebinding. In spite of the
hardness of their blue and the crudeness of their stamped designs, these
little volumes attract every reader and never remain long on the shelves
of the second-hand bookstores. We should not expect a publisher to
succeed were he now to put them upon the market for the first time or in
an exact reproduction. But the publisher who shall so recombine their
elements as to produce upon his public the effect which they made upon
theirs, and which they still make as reminiscent of an earlier taste,
will be the envy of his fellows. It is interesting to note that after
fifty years these volumes show no sign of fading, so that Dr. Holmes
might well have made his stanza an exclamation instead of a question.
They seem likely to last as long as the "Elzevirs" or even the "Alduses"
have already lasted, and possibly to outlast the fame, though hardly the
memory, of the poet who sang them. The dimensions of the cover are 5-5/8
by 3-3/8 inches; the thickness is about an inch. There was a larger Blue
and Gold format, as well as several smaller, but only the standard is
now valued.

We cannot bring our list of favorite book sizes much nearer the present
without running the risk of confusing the temporary and the permanent in
popular approval. We will, therefore, close with a mention of the Little
Classics. At about the time when the Blue and Gold series ceased to be
published, more exactly in 1874, Mr. Rossiter Johnson designed for the
now famous series which he was then editing a book form that sprang at
once into a favor that it still retains. In this form, which appears to
have no near counterpart in either earlier or later bookmaking, the
volumes are closely six by four inches by three-quarters of an