Ball Corporation has published "How to" books on home canning and preserving since the early part of this century

The Mystery of the Blue Books

The earliest versions of the Blue Book series have always been a mystery. They weren’t called Blue Books, they weren’t always given a date of publication, and, most intriguingly, the first use of a letter to designate the edition started with the letter E.

One problem with studying early Blue Books has always been getting enough examples together in one place to be able to compare them. Fortunately, Minnetrista Cultural Center has one of the largest and most complete collections of the books known to exist, donated by Ball Corporation.

Some one, reportedly a Ball family member, has given each book in the collection a number, putting them in chronological order. Here are the first thirteen, with identifying characteristics:

#	Title on Cover	Ed.	Date	Pages	Graphic	Color
1	The Correct Method For Preserving Fruit	-	-	32	kettle	green
2	The Correct Method For Preserving Fruit	-	-	32	kettle	light brown
3	The Correct Method For Preserving Fruit	-	-	32	kettle	grey
4	The Correct Method For Preserving Fruit	-	-	32	kettle	blue
5	The Correct Method Of Preserving Fruit	-	-	32	none	yellow
6	The Correct Method For Preserving Fruit	-	-	32	kettle	dark brown
7	The Correct Method Of Preserving Fruit	-	-	32	none	light brown
8	The Correct Method Of Preserving Fruit	-	-	32	none	dark brown
9	The Correct Methods For Preserving Fruit	-	-	32	cornucopia	multi
10	Correct Methods For Preserving Fruit	-	1913	56
11	The Ball Preserving Book	-	1913	56
12	The Ball Preserving Book	-	1914	64
13	The Ball Canning And Preserving Recipes	E	-	64

The subsequent Blue Books all have an edition number, and usually a date of publication.

The questions arises – why was the thirteenth version was given the letter E? Assuming that first one would be A, this should mean there were only four previous versions. But there are twelve on the list, with five different names. Even if the books were not numbered in proper order, there aren't enough letters to go around.

After examining all the variables in the title, cover design, and cover color, I found no pattern that would allow the books to be put in chronological order. However, when I looked at the contents of books. I discovered that Numbers 1 through 9 on the list have the same text. There are two different layouts with different indexes, slight variations in the title, and many varieties of the color of the cover, but they all have the same recipes. In fact, the title on as listed on the title page is different than that on the cover. All nine versions list “The Correct Method of Preserving Fruit” as the title, regardless of what it says on the cover.

The contents of the subsequent Blue Books (Numbers 10, 11 and 12) are different from the first 9, and from each other. Some of the recipes are the same, but new ones have been added. A date has been added, and the books have more pages.

Thus, a pattern begins to show. Evidently, the company felt that only a change in the recipes themselves warranted a change in the edition number. The variation title, color and design on the cover for books 1-9 could have been a result of the book being reprinted on several occasions. It is possible that other varieties exist.

Looking at the differences in contents only, Edition E is indeed the fifth version of the Blue Book. This results in the following arbitrary assignment of letters:

The Correct Method of Preserving Fruit	A		32 pages
Correct Methods For Preserving Fruit	B	1913	56 pages
The Ball Preserving Book	C	1913	56 pages
The Ball Preserving Book	D	1914	64 pages
The Ball Canning and Preserving Recipes	E		64 pages

Any discrepancies, disagreements or questions about this listing are welcomed.

Note: The book listed as Number 2 on the first list was loaned out by Ball Corporation for a display. It never came back. Fortunately, the details had been recorded. But, if you have a book titled The Correct Method For Preserving Fruit with a light brown cover showing a steaming kettle, and there is a big number "2" in pencil at the top in the middle, that is the missing book.