In the United States, the majority of "The Big Four" first appeared in the "Blue Book Magazine" insofar as the publication of the book version occurred partway through the publication of the stories in the "Blue Book". In addition, the version published in the "Blue Book" was that of the book text (with small abridgements) and not that of the 1924 UK "Sketch" text. It can therefore be viewed as a serialisation of the book rather than a reprinting of the short stories. All of the instalments carried an illustration. The artist for the first five instalments was L. R. Gustavson, while William Molt provided the illustrations for the latter six.