All Bubble Books #10-12 date to 1920 (see review of Bubble Book #12 at left) -- the same year the second edition began, which might explain why there are no first-edition versions of these later books. -These books contain listings for all twelve books (as shown at left), and all have volume numbers on the spine.

There were also variations in the color of the labels that might be associated with the editions -- see the Record Label section for a discussion and pictures.

Interestingly, the series listings in Bubble Books #13 and #14, published in 1922, contain a reference to Bubble Book #15, "The Robin and the Wren," which was never published in the acoustic series as far as I know (see picture at left).- Its debut was delayed until 1930 when it was published in an electric version (see discussion below).

The price of the books rose and fell over their lifetime (see the Advertisement section).- The books were initially priced at $1.00 each, and increased to $1.50 in 1920.- That price increase didn't hold, however, and by 1921 the books were priced at $1.25.- Even that price couldn't stick, and by 1922 the books were being sold at their original price of $1.00 each.- According to one of the ads, these price reductions were caused by anticipated reductions in manufacturing costs (labor, material, and distribution).- Rather than keep the additional profit these declining costs would create, Columbia reduced the price, most likely as a way to stimulate demand that had fallen off as the price increased.

One of the most rare collectibles associated with the Bubble Books might be the Cut-Out Bubble Book (see cover at left), which was published in 1922 and sold for 60¢.- The book was advertised in some copies of Bubble Books #13 and #14 and in the June 1922 issue of Harper's Magazine, which also announced the publication of those two new Bubble Books (click here to see the ads and page through the book and its patent).- This book contains figures from the first three Bubble Books that could be cut out, assembled, and placed on top of the record to dance along with the tune as the record played.

The Bubble Books were not just available in the U.S.- It appears that Columbia made a deal with Hodder and Stoughton, Limited in London for a British edition, almost simultaneous with its deal with Harper & Brothers.- (I have only found these books in the later edition however, dated 1919-1920, so perhaps this series began slightly later than the U.S. version.) - Hodder and Stoughton, founded in 1868, was -- and continues to be -- a UK publisher of general fiction, religious, and children's books.- Columbia still provided the records (which were pressed in the U.S. and were identical to the U.S. version), but Hodder printed the books in Great Britain.- This series was known as the "Hodder-Columbia Books that Sing," and the books were priced at 7s 6d (see review in The Sound Box at left).- As far as I know, Hodder only published books #1-10, despite advertising the availability of #11 and #12 in the listing at the front of each book.

The Hodder versions are, most likely, British printings of the U.S. books, as evidenced by identical spellings of words such as "favorite" and "savor" in both the Hodder and Harper versions.- Other evidence for this theory is provided by Bubble Book #8.- All other Bubble Books in the series are identified in the U.S. edition as "Harper Columbia" in large print on the cover, and this type is changed to "Hodder-Columbia" on the UK editions.- Bubble Book #8, though, is identified in tiny print in the border at the bottom.- This very small print says "Harper Columbia" on the Hodder version as well (see detail at left).- Perhaps the printers did not see this identification when they were preparing the plates for the Hodder edition.

There was a substantial, multi-faceted marketing campaign driving sales of the Bubble Books.- In 1920, an extensive advertising campaign targeting retail customers was launched (see the Advertisment section) -- at a cost of $75,000 according to a trade ad in the September 1920 issue of Talking Machine World.- According to another trade ad in The Bookseller, Newsdealer and Stationer in November, 1920, this was "the largest campaign ever devoted to books," a claim repeated in the review of Bubble Book #12 referred to above and published in the same issue (see left).- The same ad describes and shows several stands, displays, brochures, and advertisements store owners could use to build demand.- Retail advertisements were placed in women's and children's magazines (such as The Ladies' Home Journal, Woman's Home Companion, St. Nicholas Magazine, John Martin's Book, etc.) along with general interest magazines (such as The Saturday Evening Post, World's Work, Scribner's, The Century, The American Review of Reviews, The Atlantic Monthly, and especially Harper's Magazine, which was also published by Harper & Brothers), and newspapers.- Youth's Companion was also part of the marketing campaign -- this magazine used Bubble Books as a premium that subscribers could earn as a reward for signing up other people as subscribers (see page at left).

In addition to advertising, U.S. sales of Bubble Books were being stimulated by child actors from New York hired to participate in organized Bubble Book parties around the country (see three newspaper advertisements for the parties at left).- According to Frank Andrews, writing in the Winter 2001 issue of Hillandale News, one party in Omaha, Nebraska was reported to have attracted over 1,000 children.- And in London, Hodder and Stoughton organized a window-dressing competition for dealers in the fall of 1921.- (See also the record sleeve at left from an English record and phonograph dealer advertising their Bubble Book specialty.)- In 1923, trade ads in Talking Machine World were suggesting that dealers hold a "Bubble Book Hour" in their store to drive traffic and sales in their store during off hours, and also mentioned that the songs and stories were being broadcast on the radio.- In fact, at least one radio station -- WJZ in Newark, New Jersey -- had started weekly 30-minute broadcasts on Sundays at 6:30pm, featuring readings and recordings from the Bubble Books, and these broadcasts ran from April 2, 1922 through January 14, 1923 (see the last radio program listing that I know about at left).

By 1924 the copyright and patents had been acquired by the Victor Talking Machine Company (see postcard of the factory at left), which was quite pleased to tell its dealers that this meant there would be no competition from the Harper Columbia version (see article from Voice of Victor, September 1924, at left).- In fact, it appears the remaining stock of Harper Bubble Books were being sold off for 25¢ during at least one massive sale, according to a Gimbel Brothers ad that appeared in the New York Times on September 11, 1924.- Victor then produced a series of six Bubble Books, each of which contained two of the original Bubble Books (see description at left on glassine paper; original use of this paper is unknown) and were sold for $2.00.- (The eighth and ninth original Bubble Books were not included in the Victor series, but the reason for this omission is unknown.)- These books were oversized in comparison to the Harper Columbia series, measuring 9½" x 7¾".- The three bound-in sleeves each contained double-sided records (rather than the single-sided records of the Harper Columbia series), and these records were also oversized in comparison, measuring 7" (rather than the 5½" of the original).- Ralph Mayhew had just received a patent for another method of mounting records into books (see patent at left), but that method was not used by Victor.

The records in this version were also recorded acoustically, just like the Harper Columbia series.- (There is some confusion on this point, but see the footnote in the 1927 Victor Records catalog listing at left for the definitive answer.)-