Collecting Childrens Picturebooks

Dr. Seuss and the Beginner Books

Up until the mid-1950s, there was a degree of separation between illustrated educational books and illustrated picturebooks. That all changed, dramatically and with much national fanfare, with the 1957 publication of Dr. Seuss’s The Cat In The Hat (Random House). Here was an early reader, full of 220 madly rhyming words, which made its way into our elementary school classrooms.

The Cat In The Hat is a tremendously important book. Not just an important picturebook or an important children’s book, but an important book without any qualifiers! The publication of the book in 1957 forever changed the way in which children would learn to read and be educated. Reading COULD be fun!

The following table is an excerpt from the Children's Picturebook Price Guide. The estimated values are for first edition books, with dust jackets. The Children's Picturebook Price Guide explains in understandable terms the methods to correctly identify first edition Dr. Seuss books.

The Beginning of Beginner Books

The Cat In The Hat was published by Random House. However because of it’s success, an independent publishing company was formed, called Beginner Books. Theodor Seuss Geisel, aka Dr. Seuss, was the president and editor.

Beginner Books was chartered as a series of books oriented toward various stages of early reading development. The second book in the series was nearly as popular, The Cat In The Hat Comes Back, published in 1958.

Springing from this series of beginning readers were such standards as A Fly Went By (1958), Sam and the Firefly (1958), Green Eggs and Ham (1960), Go, Dog. Go! (1961), Hop On Pop (1963), and Fox in Socks (1965), each a monument in the picturebook industry, and also significant in the historical development of early readers. All are still in print and remain very popular over forty years after their initial publication.

Creators in the Beginner Book series were such luminaries as Jan & Stan Berenstain, P. D. Eastman, Roy McKie, and Helen Palmer (Mr. Geisel’s wife). The Beginner Books dominated the children’s picturebook market of the 1960’s, and still plays a significant role today within the phases of students’ reading development.

Before The Cat

Prior to the publication of his first children’s book in 1937, And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street (Vanguard Press, 1937)), Theodor Seuss Geisel was a prominent and successful humorist illustrator for such magazines as Judge and Life.

By the time of The Cat In The Hat's publication, Dr. Seuss was a very successful children’s book illustrator, having published twelve children’s books, three of which had won Caldecott Honor awards. Actually, prior to the publication of The Cat In The Hat, one could easily say that Dr. Seuss had already had two successful illustration careers, one as a humorist and one as a picturebook creator.

John Hersey and Dr. Seuss

Mr. Geisel created The Cat In The Hat in reaction to a Life Magazine article by Pulitzer Prize winning author John Hersey, published in the May 24, 1954 issue, titled “Why Do Students Bog Down On First R? A LOCAL COMMITTEE SHEDS LIGHT ON A NATIONAL PROBLEM: READING.” In the article, Hersey was critical of the then current state of school primers,

In the classroom boys and girls are confronted with books that have insipid illustrations depicting the slicked-up lives of other children. [Existing primers] feature abnormally courteous, unnaturally clean boys and girls.” “In bookstores, anyone can buy brighter, livelier books featuring strange and wonderful animals and children who behave naturally, i.e., sometimes misbehave. Given incentive from school boards, publishers could do as well with primers.

Hersey’s arguments were enumerated in some ten pages of Life Magazine, which was the leading periodical of its time. After detailing many issues contributing to the dilemma with student’s reading, toward the end of the article, Hersey redundantly asked:

Why should [school primers] not have pictures that widen rather than narrow the associative richness the children give to the words they illustrate—drawings like those of the wonderfully imaginative geniuses among children’s illustrators, Tenniel, Howard Pyle, “Dr. Seuss,” Walt Disney?

Geisel responded to this “challenge” by rigidly limiting himself to a small set of words from an elementary school vocabulary list, then crafted a story based upon two randomly selected words—cat and hat. The results of this personal challenge are nothing short of amazing!

After The Cat

Successful before the publication of the The Cat In The Hat, after it’s publication, Dr. Seuss became an ‘overnight’ national phenomenon.

After the publication of The Cat In The Hat, numerous feature articles were published in Life, Look and other prominent periodicals. The book’s characters, along with other Seuss creations, were extended into toys and other products, occurring long before co-merchandising and line extensions became commonplace for children’s character marketing.

Values for the First Fifty Beginner Books

The values in the following table are for first edition books, with dust jackets. In most cases, the first edition book cannot be properly identified without the dust jacket.

Collecting First Edition Beginner Books

First printings of the each of Beginner Books published from 1957-to-1973 should be considered by children's book collectors. Many collectors are on the lookout for the Dr. Seuss books, however there has not been as keen an interest in the non-Seuss Beginner Books. The non-Seuss books are relatively inexpensive in the market place, however locating first printings is difficult. Part of the difficulty is due to the uncertainty in the industry in identifying true first printings of the early Beginner Books. We are in the process of publishing identification information on our website, which will help to rectify this ongoing issue.

In 2001 Publisher's Weekly created their lists of the All-Time Bestselling Children's Books, for both hardcover and paperback books. We consider copies sold one of the key factors in the collectibility of a children's book (when the initial printing is low relative to the eventual copies sold). Twenty of the Beginner Books made the list, with eleven in the All-Time Bestselling top 50. Several of the Beginner Books are from the 'Bright and Early' sub-series which was started in 1967.

Not surprisingly, Dr. Seuss books dominate the list, although all of the first printings are desirable. Some of the non-Seuss first printings are very difficult to come by, especially Are You My Mother?, Go, Dog, Go! and Put Me In The Zoo, each of which have out sold many of the Dr. Seuss books. You should also be on the lookout for first printings of a A Fly Went By and Book of Riddles.

The first twelve Beginner Books were published between 1957-to-1959 and should be on your 'watch for' list. First editions are easily identifiable, as all but Cat In The Hat state 'First Printing' on the copyright page. We've documented first edition identification points for Cat In The Hat on our blog.

Another key book in the series is Helen Palmer's A Fish Out of Water, illustrated by P.D. Eastman. Palmer was Geisel's wife, and wrote several of the early Beginner Books. However we think Dr.Seuss should be given co-authorship as we wrote in an article A Story Of Two Fish: Dr. Seuss Out Of Water, comparing A Fish Out Of Water to Seuss's Gustav The Goldfish.

Identifying First Edition Beginner Books

Within the hobby, to our knowledge, a method for identifying first printings of Beginner Books has not yet been published. Soon we hope to resolve this absence.

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The conventional wisdom among booksellers is first edition Dr. Seuss books cannot be identified without the dust jacket. This used to be true. With the recent discovery of some salient information, today, most of the large format Dr. Seuss books can be identified as first printings without the dust jacket.

There are a couple of cases where the first printing book is indistinguishable from the book used in the 2^nd and 3^rd printing. In these cases, the book remained unchanged but the dust jacket was changed. Even so, these books still have collectibility (desirability) and value.

To help clarify, from the ABAA’s glossary:

Edition & Printing:

Edition includes the copies of a book or other printed material which originate from the same plates or setting of type. If 500 copies of a book are printed on Oct. 5 and 300 copies are printed from the same substantially unchanged plates on Dec. 10, all 800 copies are part of the same edition.

Printing: the copies of a book or other printed material which originate from the same press run or from the same plates or setting of type at one time.

In the example given for "Edition" above, the 500 copies would be the first printing and the 300 copies comprise the second printing.

First Edition:

All of the copies printed from the first setting of type; can include multiple printings if all are from the same setting of type. When book collectors use the term first edition, they are usually referring to the first printing and if there are different states or issues, the earliest of those.

In all of the Dr. Seuss books presented, the first edition book can be identified without the dust jackets. In nearly all cases, the book is also the first edition/first printing. In a couple of cases, the book is the first edition/’first or early’ printing.

We describe ‘Availability’ for each of the books. Most of the first edition books are difficult to find in the market. ‘Very difficult’ means one or no copies are usually available from the internet bookselling sites (ABE, Alibris, or Bookfinder). ‘Extremely difficult’ means a copy is not usually on the market, however might surface once or twice per year.

[Note: Where applicable, below, the book's title links to the identification points for the first edition book with dust jacket.]

It’s difficult to price first edition books without dust jackets. A first edition Mulberry Street with dust jacket might sell for $8000 in Very Good condition. The first edition book might sell in the $300-$600 range, so about 1/20^th the value of the first edition book with dust jacket.

The Cat In The Hat first edition book with dust jacket would have a market value of $4000 or so in Very Good condition. The first edition book might sell for $50 or so, since it is not too difficult to find.

Since the Dr. Seuss first edition books with dust jacket are too expensive for many children's book collectors, they might consider the first edition book without dust jacket as an alternative.

And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street                  1937

Title page with ‘1937,’ Vanguard Press, and copyright page with no additional printings listed. Marco’s shorts are white on the front cover; on later printings Marco had blue shorts.

Availability: ‘White pants’ books are extremely difficult to find.

The 500 Hats Of Bartholomew Cubbins                             1938

The front endpapers progress from large hats to small hats; the rear endpapers progress from small hats to large hats. On later printings the progression was reversed.

Availability: ‘Large-to-small hat’ books are extremely difficult to find.

The King's Stilts                                                              1939

Front cover with the yellow text ‘The King’s Stilts by Dr. Seuss’ on a red background covering nearly the entire area. On later printings, the title was reduced in size, with red text on a yellow cloth background.

Availability: ‘Large logo’ books are very difficult to find.

Horton Hatches The Egg  1940

States ‘First Printing’ on the copyright page.

Availability: ‘First Printing’ books are extremely difficult to find.

McElligot’s Pool                                                              1947

Front cover has fish with mouth open.

Availability: ‘Open mouth’ books are very difficult to find.

Thidwick: The Big-Hearted Moose                                    1948

The first edition boards are red. The book with red boards was used with the first printing dust jacket (with ‘starburst’) and the second printing dust jacket (sans ‘starburst’, ‘200/200’ on front flap).

Availability: Red boards books are difficult to find.

Bartholomew And The Oobleck                                       1949

The first printing book has blue boards. Later printings were changed to red boards.

Availability: Blue boards books are difficult to find.

If I Ran The Zoo                                                             1950

Copyright page with seven lines only, omitting the line “BASED ON MATERIAL WHICH ORIGINALLY APPEARED IN REDBOOK MAGAZINE.” Later printings have eight lines, including the Redbook line.

Availability: ‘No Redbook’ boards books are extremely difficult to find.

Horton Hears A Who                                                       1954

Horton has full ear on back cover and the list of other Seuss titles on the recto of the back free endpaper. Second printings also have Horton with full ear on back cover and Seuss title list on the copyright page.

Availability: ‘Full ear/Rear titles page’ boards books are extremely difficult to find.
Availability: ‘Full ear/Copyright titles page’ books are very difficult to find.

If I Ran The Circus                                                         1956

The first printing book has pink boards. Later printings were changed to red & yellow boards.

Availability: ‘Pink boards’ books are not so difficult to find.

The Cat In The Hat                                                         1957

Matte boards with single binding signature. Later printings have glossy boards with three binding signatures.

The ‘matte cover with single signature’ book can be found with the 2^nd printing dust jacket (no price on flap) and 3^rd printing dust jackets (‘195/195’ on front flap).

Availability: ‘Single signature’ books are difficult to find.

How The Grinch Stole Christmas                                      1957

Back cover with full page advertisement for The Cat In The Hat offered for sale for $2.00.

This book was used on 2^nd printing dust jackets (295/295 front flap) and 3^rd printing dust jackets (295/295 and 16 titles listed).

Availability: ‘Back Ad $2.00’ books are not so difficult to find.

Cat In The Hat Comes Back                                             1958

Copyright page states ‘First Printing.” Also, the snowball to the left of the Cat's tail is only on the first edition book.

Availability: ‘First Printing’ books are not so difficult to find.

Happy Birthday To You                                                    1959

The first printing book has a printing error on page 34 (page beginning with “Today is your birthday”), with six white spots that do not appear in later printings.

Availability: ‘White spots’ books are not so difficult to find.

It is a complicated subject, the idea of first edition being ‘first edition/first printing.’

As an example, the "conventional wisdom" first edition The Cat In The Hat, with the ‘200/200’ on the front flap, is considered the first printing, while the '200/200' was in actuality used in numerous printings.

"Huh?", you ask. Let me explain. 

The Cat In The Hat was first published in March of 1957. The sales far exceeded initial expectations. The ‘200/200’ dust jacket was used on the book into early 1958, and perhaps mid-1958.

The first instance I can find of the book’s price reduction to ‘195/195’ is in the October, 1958 edition of The Horn Book Magazine (pg. 325), where Random House advertises the first six Beginner Books for $1.95.

It is illogical to believe the initial printing of The Cat In The Hat for the March, 1957 publication was sufficient to supply books for all of the sales through January or March of 1958. And especially in light of sales being higher then initially expected.

Therefore the logical conclusion is there were multiple printings of the ‘200/200’ Cat In The Hat through the course of 1957.

The book collecting community currently cannot distinguish the first ‘200/200’ printing from each of the other ‘200/200’ printings, yet we still consider all as ‘first edition/first printing’.

The first edition ‘200/200’ Cat In The Hat routinely sells for $3000 in today’s market.

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Dr. Seuss First Edition Identification Points

The Lorax, 1971

Childrens Picturebook Price Guide: $260 Fine (updated)

“I am Lorax. I speak for the trees, for the trees that have no tongues. And I’m asking you, Sir, at the top of my lungs. Oh please do not cut down another one.”—The Lorax, Dr. Seuss, 1971

The Lorax chronicles the plight of the environment and the Lorax, who speaks for the trees against the greedy Once-ler. The book is a parable about our industrialized society. The Lorax is arguably Seuss’ most controversial work.

From the biography Dr. Seuss and Mr. Geisel (Judith & Neil Morgan):

The book startled Dr. Seuss readers, and reviewers were divided. Some called it a morality tale. Ted shrugged, saying, “It’s impossible to tell a story without a moral---either the good guys win or the bad guys win.” Others were disappointed that the book lacked his usual zaniness. Sales were slower than Random House had come to expect of a Dr. Seuss book; The Lorax was ahead of its time and its popularity began to soar only a decade later when the environmental movement exploded. Ted himself began to talk of it as his favorite book.

Although The Lorax appeared in the bookstores in the fall of 1971, news of it had reached Americans the previous spring after Ted was cornered at a brunch in San Diego by Liz Carpenter, Lady Bird Johnson’s press secretary. As they sipped Bloody Marys, Liz questioned Ted about the theme of his book. It would serve Lady Bird’s environmental concerns well, she quickly said, if he donated the book’s art and manuscript to the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library in Austin, Texas, and attended its impending dedication. […]

News reports of the presidential library dedication focused on two gifts, a slice of moon rock sent by President Nixon and the original black-and-white drawings of The Lorax. President Johnson wrote Ted, “If anyone had been conducting a popularity poll in Austin the weekend of May 22, you would have won it hands down.”

The Lorax was banned in the Laytonville, California School District on grounds that this book "criminalizes the forestry industry."

When the television version of The Lorax appeared early in 1972, Newsweek called it “hard-sell ecological allegory, stabbing mainly at big business through a deceptively gentle blend of gorgeous colors, superb animation, and a rippling imagery of words and pictures.”

The Lorax is also the only book that Seuss himself ever changed after publication, by removing the Lorax’s line, “I hear things are just as bad up at Lake Erie!” From the biography Dr. Seuss and Mr. Geisel (Judith & Neil Morgan):

Two research associates from the Ohio Sean Grant Program wrote him fourteen years later about the cleanup of Lake Erie: “Improved conditions exist [in water quality]…we wonder if you would consider changing that line to past tense in future editions.”

Normally that would have involved tedious revamping of rhythm and rhyme, but this time the change involved only the final line of a four-line rhyme and he simply deleted it.

First Edition Identification:

The Lorax was issued without a dust jacket. The back of the first edition book proclaims:

Up to now,

Dr. Seuss

Has written and illustrated

32 world-famous books

For children…and their lucky parents.

Followed by two lists, the first list ending with THE LORAX. The second lists Beginner Books.

At the bottom is a yellow box with a blurb from Rudolph Flesch. The bottom right hand corner has the ISBN number “304-82337-0.”

There is a Library Edition published simulateneously with the Trade Edition, which has the same back cover text and titles list, except, oddly, the Rudolph Flesch quote is in a garish pink color. The Library Edition also has the ISBN in the bottom right corner, but it’s the wrong number. The number is “304-82337-5”, where is should be “304-92337-5.” The ‘8’ should be a ‘9.’

 

The copyright page of the Trade Edition and Library Edition vary dramatically. See picture, below.

Note that the Library Edition does not show the ISBN number on the copyright page. The Trade Edition includes the correct ISBN for both the Trade and Library Edition.

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Dr. Seuss First Edition Identification Points

Dr. Seuss’s Sleep Book, 1962

Childrens Picturebook Price Guide: $200 VG+

Dr. Seuss’s Sleep Book was the 17th large-format children’s book written and illustrated by Theodor Seuss Geisel, and twenty-first overall. The first edition continues to show up on eBay for modest prices a couple of times per month.

In addition to being an author/illustrator, at this time in his career Seuss was also the President of Beginner Books. We love the letter from the eight year old on the back dust jacket flap:

“Dear. Dr. Seuss,

You sure thunk up a lot of funny books. You sure thunk up a millian funny animels. Now this I want to know. Who thunk YOU up Dr. Seuss?”

First Edition Identification:

Back dust jacket with two boxes of Dr. Seuss books. Top box with sixteen large-format books, listed in two columns. The left column begins with Yertle and ends with 500 Hats; right column begins with Oobleck and ends with Mulberry Street. The lower box lists the four small-format Beginner Books, beginning with Cat In The Hat and ending with Green Eggs And Ham. No listing for Sleep Book on back dust jacket.

The front flap price is ‘295/295’, however is not necessary to identify a first edition.

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In a previous post, we provided the first edition identification points for Dr. Seuss's If I Ran The Zoo. The key identifying point is the absence of the line "Based on Material Originally Appeared in Redbook Magazine" on the copyright page. The true first printing of the book omits this line.

We thought some Seuss-o-philes would be interested in the Redbook Magazine appearance of If I Ran The Zoo:

We count sixty lines in the Redbook poem, while the story replicates that in the book. The Redbook poem starts:

"If I ran the zoo," said young Gerald McGrew

"I'd make a few changes, that's just what I'd do"

While the book begins,

 "It's a pretty good zoo," said young Gerald McGrew,

"And the fellow who runs it seems proud of it, too."

"But if I ran the zoo," said young Gerald McGrew,

"I'd make a few changes, that's just what I'd do..." 

The Redbook includes illustrations of many of Seuss concoctions featured in the book, including the Elephant-Cat, the Ten-Legged Lion, the Obsk, the Bippo-no-Bungus, It-Kutch, Preep-Proo, Nerp, Nerd, Seersucker, Fings, and of course the giant Gwark. The Redbook illustrations are unique to the magazine--Seuss re-did each illustration for the book. The 'look' of the creatures are very much the same between the magazine and the book, although curiously, the 'facing direction' is reversed in the book, i.e. if left facing in the magazine, the creature is right-facing in the book, and vice-versa.

If I Ran the Zoo is credited with inventing the word "nerd" with the lines:

"And then, just to show them, I'll sail to Ka-Troo

And Bring Back an It-Kutch a Preep and a Proo

A Nerkle a Nerd and a Seersucker, too!"

These same lines appear in the magazine, which was published prior to the book. So, if you are a 'pop culture technophile', the magazine might be the more appealing. It certainly would be less expensive to obtain, since the first edition If I Ran The Zoo has a market value of $1600 (in very good condition) according to the Children's Picturebook Price Guide).

Gerald McGrew, the principal character and narrator in If I Ran The Zoo, is the first of several McGrew's to appear in Dr. Seuss works. Young Mayzie McGrew is the principal character in Daisy-Head Mayzie, and her parents are Mr. & Mrs. McGrew. We do not know if they are related to the Zoo's Gerald. A Dr. McGrew appears in You're Only Old Once! at the Golden Years Clinic. And, lastly, a Mr. McGrew appears in Seuss's I Can Draw It Myself, as a man who needs whiskers, "some eyebrows and eyelashes, too"

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Every Seuss-o-phile must read Professor Philip Nel's new book, The Annotated Cat: Under The Hats Of Seuss and His Cats. From Newsweek's article, '236 Perfect Words', by Malcolm Jones:

Nel’s line-by-line annotations illuminate precisely how Seuss created his masterwork (Nel also includes annotation for “The Cat in the Hat Came Back,”). We are treated to rough sketches and first drafts. The antecedents (comics of all kinds, of course, but especially “The Katzenjammer Kids,” “Krazy Kat” and “Felix the Cat”. Nel even delves into the differences between the book and the animated cartoon of the same name made by Seuss and Chuck Jones. As delightful as the cartoon is, it offers a singular lesson in economy. The book, lacking music, lacking animation, lacking extra scenes and lines, is still better.

Whatever we make of “The Cat in the Hat,” we cannot call it an accident. Watching Seuss revise is a lesson any writer or artist could benefit from. When the cat says he knows some new tricks and offers to show them to Sally and Whatsisname, Seuss began by making him say, “I can show them to you.” He crossed out “can” and substituted “Let me.” Then he crossed that out and penciled in “I will.” Suddenly, the cat is in focus—and in command.

Showing us how Seuss worked—showing him assemble the cat line by line in ink and print—is the coolest gift this “Annotated Cat” could give us. Looking over the shoulder of a master (but a master of the unconventional and the subversive—Seuss, according to Nel, identified most strongly with his most mischievous characters: his license plate read GRINCH), we learn the true meaning of the words “It is fun to have fun, but you have to know how.” Boy, did he know how.

Professor Nel teaches at Kansas State University, and has authored a number of articles and books on children's books. He is currently working on Crockett Johnson and Ruth Krauss: A Biography, the husband and wife duo, Johnson the creator of Harold and the Purple Crayon, and Krauss a celebrated children's book author.

Nel manages several children's book related websites, notably extensively linked pages on The Crockett Johnson Homepage, and Dr. Seuss On The Web. At KSU, Professor Nel teaches an undergraduate course on children's literature, and an upper-level course on Dr. Seuss, where the curriculum includes Horton Hatches an Egg, Horton Hears A Who!, the Cat In The Hat, along with numerous other Seuss classics.

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Dr. Seuss First Edition Identification Points

If I Ran The Zoo, 1950

1951 Caldecott Honor Award

Childrens Picturebook Price Guide: $1600 VG+

If I Ran The Zoo was the fourth post-war children’s book written and illustrated by Theodor Seuss Geisel, and eighth overall.

At this point in his career, Seuss was considered one of the top children’s book illustrators. From the back dust jacket flap:

"Although listed in Who’s Who as a man who juggles many careers, ranging from advertising and Movie Making to University Lecturing, Dr. Seuss is now spending more and more time at his favorite occupation – turning out wonderful nonsense for children.

As a result, the children of America are having more fun . . . getting more Seuss stories to read in magazines . . . getting more Seuss records to play on their phonographs."

First Edition Identification Points:

Book: Copyright page with seven lines, as follows:

COPYRIGHT 1950 BY DR. SEUSS

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED UNDER INTERNATIONAL AND

PAN-AMERICAN COPYRIGHT CONVENTIONS

PUBLISHED IN NEW YORK BY RANDOM HOUSE, INC.

AND SIMULTANEOUSLY IN TORONTO, CANADA BY

RANDOM HOUSE OF CANADA LTD.

PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.

The true first printing has only seven lines. Second and later printings include an eighth line which references the Redbook Magazine appearance, as follows:

COPYRIGHT 1950 BY DR. SEUSS

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED UNDER INTERNATIONAL AND

PAN-AMERICAN COPYRIGHT CONVENTIONS

BASED ON MATERIAL WHICH ORIGINALLY APPEARED IN REDBOOK MAGAZINE.

PUBLISHED IN NEW YORK BY RANDOM HOUSE, INC.

AND SIMULTANEOUSLY IN TORONTO, CANADA BY

RANDOM HOUSE OF CANADA LTD.

PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.

We own a 2nd printing book with “200/200” price on the dust jacket, and it has the eight line copyright information, with the Redbook Magazine reference. We also own a circa 1954 edition of If I Ran The Zoo, with “250/250” price on the dust jacket, and it has the eight line copyright information. In addition, we also own a circa 1957 edition of If I Ran The Zoo, with “295/295” price on the dust jacket, and it also has the eight line copyright information. This reinforces the seven line copyright , absent the line with the Redbook Magazine reference, as the true first printing of the book.

[Note: This information differs from the Younger/Hirsch guide to identifying First Editions of Dr. Seuss Books, which indicates the eight line copyright is the first printing book. The Younger/Hirsch guide is an invaluable resource if you are a collector of first edition Dr. Seuss books, and is considered the definitive guide by collectors and booksellers. The Youngers have previously corrected the identification points to Horton Hears A Who as per our listing on their error page for the guide.]

Book back is the same as back DJ, seven previous Dr. Seuss titles listed chronologically, with Bartholomew and the Oobleck at the top, list ending with And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street.

Dust jacket: First printing price on top right front flap of “200/200”. Back DJ lists seven other books chronologically by Dr. Seuss, with Bartholomew and the Oobleck at the top, list ending with And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street.

The Junior Literary Guild Edition also has the correct seven line copyright page, with the omission of the Redbook reference.

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A Fish Out Of Water, written by Helen Palmer, illustrated by P.D. Eastman; Beginner Books, 1961 (Childrens Picturebook Price Guide: $240 VG+).

Prologue

As a child, I loved the story A Fish Out Of Water. It was, and remains, one of my favorite Beginner Books. Written by Helen Palmer, the wife of Theodor Seuss Geisel, aka Dr. Seuss, A Fish Out Of Water has a ‘preposterous-ness’ one associates with a Dr. Seuss story. Then it’s not surprising to discover the story is virtually identical to Seuss’s Gustav The Goldfish, which was published a decade earlier in the June 1950 Redbook Magazine!

“[Seuss] gave Helen formal permission to write a Beginner Book from “Gustave the Goldfish,” which he had written in 1950 in his long-running series of children’s stories for Redbook. “you have the right to use any of the situations of any of the words from the original story that your little heart desires. You must, however, comply with all the necessary steps in protecting my original copyright.[1]”

For fifty-seven years, Gustav The Goldfish, written and illustrated Dr. Seuss, has not seen the light of day [2].

One Story, Two Fish

The story lines are identical.  Both books start with a boy buying a fish, with the seller providing a curious warning not to over feed the fish.

In A Fish Out Of Water, the boy also dumped the entire box of fish food into the tank.

Next, in both stories, Gus and Otto were put into a larger container, a flower bowl, and proceeded to out grow the bowl. 

Next, in both stories, Gus and Otto were brought into the kitchen and moved from pot to pot to bigger pot.

Next, in both stories. Gus and Otto were taken upstairs to the bathtub.

Next, In both stories, the tub overflows, as Gus and Otto continue to grow, and the fish ends up in the flooded cellar of the house.

Next, at last, we have some divergence. In A Fish Out Of Water, the boy calls a policeman, then firemen to help move Otto out of the cellar and into a community swimming pool.

Next, in both stories, the boy telephones the seller of the fish, and asks for his assistance.

Next, in both stories, the original seller of the fish arrives, fiddles with some items, then goes underwater for some amount of time.

Gustav The Goldfish is a Dr. Seuss story, with his familiar rollicking cadence, anapestic tetrameter, a signature of his poems. In the introduction to Gustav, Seuss writes

“This is the tale of a goldfish that grew,
Presented to you with a technique that’s new.
To get best results, just read it aloud,
To your youngsters and friends and the rest of the crowd.”

A Fish Out Of Water, on the other hand, is a Beginner Book, written to help children learn how to read. From the book’s dust jacket:

Like all BEGINNER BOOKS, this one will prove helpful in developing reading skill. It is written with ONLY 175 DIFFERENT WORDS – the majority of which a child learns in first grade. The theme is skillfully evolved to ensure the word repetition necessary in building a “sight” vocabulary. Yet these word repetitions never become drills – they are basic to the plot so that a child will feel he is reading only for fun.

There is little question that Helen Palmer wrote A Fish Out Of Water. In 1950, it is very likely she helped Geisel with the story and composition of Gustav The Goldfish, just as she helped him with many of his stories. Which is not to say they collaborated on Gustav, or any of the Dr. Seuss poems, since Geisel’s method was to painstakingly scrutinize every word, every line, every verse. Palmer was more an advisor, reviewer, or contributor than a collaborator.

Still, Helen Palmer never received official credit, in the form of copyright rights, for any of Dr. Seuss’s books. So, quid pro quo, the sole copyright holder for A Fish Out Of Water is one Helen Palmer.

From A Fish Out Of Water dust jacket:

“Helen Palmer, graduate of Wellesley College and Oxford University, was a teacher of English before she became involved in the creation of books for children. She has since edited literally dozens of successful juveniles and written an even dozen of her own.

Married to an eccentric writer, Theo. LeSeig (himself a Beginner Book author), Miss Palmer lives in California […].”

The “eccentric writer” LeSeig, Geisel spelled backwards, of course is Dr. Seuss. A bit odd, this concerted effort to distance Palmer’s connection to the leading best selling author/illustrator of children’s books (and, at that time, President of Beginner Books—the Geisel’s sold Beginner Books to Random House in 1960, however retained Geisel as President). The result, for some forty years, is the public’s perception that A Fish Out Of Water was an original story authored solely by Helen Palmer. The cleverness of the story, the ‘preposterous-ness’, obviously, is due to Dr. Seuss.

And now, after fifty-seven years, Gustav The Goldfish, written and illustrated Dr. Seuss, has surfaced anew.

Epilogue – The Seuss Redbooks

Initially published in the July 1950 Redbook, If I Ran The Zoo was later made into a book (after some modification by Seuss), won a 1951 Caldecott Honor award.

Five of the other Seuss Redbook stories were collected and published in books.  In 1958, three stories were compiled to become Yertle The Turtle and Other Stories. In 1961, two of the Redbook stories went into The Sneetches and Other Stories. In most cases, Seuss expanded upon the Redbook original stories before publication into a book.

Thirteen of the Redbook stories have never been reprinted, or published into book form, tallying nearly twenty pages of original Dr. Seuss material.

Gustav The Goldfish was the first of the twenty-two Seuss poems published in Redbook Magazine. And finally, after a fifty-seven year wait, has surfaced, deservedly anew.

Footnotes:

[1] Morgan, Judith & Neil ; “Dr. Seuss & Mr. Geisel”, pg. 168; Random House, 1995.

[2] A Google search (March, 2007) for ‘Gustav The Goldfish’ provides only three hits:

1) A 1977 copyright renewal by Geisel;

“R664175. Gustav, the goldfish. By Doctor Seuss, pseud. of Theodor S. Geisel. (In Redbook, June 1950) © 31May50; B249280. Theodor S. Geisel (Docter Seuss) (A); 7Jun77”

2) A reference to an original drawing in the ‘Register of Dr. Seuss Collection’, held by the University of California at San Diego;

3) Our June 2006 blog article referencing the Redbook Magazine containing the Gustav story (http://1stedition.net/blog/2006/06/dr_seuss_redbook_magazine_orig.html).

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Dr. Seuss First Edition Identification Points

Scrambled Eggs Super, 1953

Childrens Picturebook Price Guide:  $1600 VG+

Scrambled Eggs Super was the fifth post-war children’s book written and illustrated by Theodor Seuss Geisel, and ninth overall. 

At this point in his career, Seuss was considered one of the top children’s book illustrators. From the back dust jacket flap:

'His work reaches the public in many assorted forms. Sometimes, for Hollywood, he writes humorous lyrics or screen plays. His “Gerald McBoing-Boing” won an Academy Asward as the most oustanding animated cartoon of 1951. In a more serious vein he wrote (with Mrs. Seuss) the documentary feature “Design for Death” which captured an Oscar in 1948.

 

[…] Dr. Seuss’s status as a writer was recently summed up neatly by the National Geographic Magazine: “… beloved as a modern Lewis Carroll by his fans, old and young, who treasure his gems of imaginative humor.”

First Edition Identification Points:

Dust jacket:  Price on top right front flap of “$2.50”.  Back DJ lists eight other books by Dr. Seuss, with If I Ran The Zoo at the top, list ending with And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street.

Book:  Same as back DJ, eight previous Dr. Seuss titles listed, with If I Ran The Zoo at the top, list ending with And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street.

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Dr. Seuss First Edition Identification

Horton Hears A Who; written and illustrated by Theodor Seuss Geisel (a.k.a. Dr. Seuss); Random House; 1954.

Children’s Picturebook Price Guide value - $2,000 VG+

There are three printings of the book with “250/250” price on the front DJ flap.  The first two printings have Horton’s “full ear” graphic on the back of the book and dust jacket.  The third printing book’s back and back DJ have Horton’s partial ear (ear cut off by Junior Literary Guild review).

First Edition Identification – Book

Horton has full ear on back cover graphic, with cloud in upper left corner, and five branch tree in upper right corner.  Later issues had Horton’s ear cut off by review, no cloud, and two branch tree. See photo.

This later printing's graphic (partial ear, no cloud, two branches) was used on the book and DJ post-1957, when the price of the book was changed to “295/295”.  The book’s price was “250/250” from 1954-1957.

The true first edition book’s copyright page does not have a list of “Other books by Dr. Seuss”. 

Also, on the true first edition book, the reverse of the rear endpaper has a list of nine books, titled “Other books by Dr. Seuss”, starting with SCRAMBLED EGGS SUPER, and ending with “AND TO THINK THAT I SAW IT ON MULBERRY STREET”. 

Younger/Hirsch identifies this first edition book as a ‘variant’.  The following table is a compelling argument that it is not a variant, but instead the true first edition of the book.  Note that all later printings have the Seuss title list on the copyright page.  Only in the first edition book is there no Seuss title list on the copyright page, and instead, the list is on the back of the rear endpaper.

[Note: The Youngers have corrected the identification points to Horton Hears A Who as per the above, on their error page for the guide. The Younger/Hirsch guide, First Editions of Dr. Seuss Books, is an invaluable resource if you are a collector of first edition Dr. Seuss books, and is considered the definitive guide by collectors and booksellers.]

First Edition Identification – Dust Jacket

Horton has full ear on back DJ graphic, with cloud in upper left corner, and five branch tree in upper right corner.  Later printings had Horton’s ear cut off by review, no cloud, and two branch tree.  See photo.

The dust jacket is the same on both the first and second printing books.  The DJ price of '250/250' is not necessary if the 'full ear/clouds/5 branch' graphic is present on the back of the dust jacket.

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Dr. Seuss First Edition Identification 

 Bartholomew and the Oobleck; written and illustrated by Theodor Seuss Geisel; Random House; 1949.

1950 Caldecott Honor Award 

Children's Picturebook Price Guide Value - $2,200 VG+

Essential First Edition Identifying Points

Blue boards and blue dust jacket. 

Oobleck is similar to Seuss' Thidwick The Big-Hearted Moose and If I Ran The Circus, in that the book and dust jacket are unique to the first edition.  Later states have orange boards and dust jacket.

 It is difficult to find a first edition dust jacket in VG condition, since the paper stock was so thin on the first state DJ.

 The dust jacket price is $2.00, "200/200" at top right of front flap, however this is not necessary to identify the first state book.

The rear flaps gives a short review of the first six Seuss books.

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How The Grinch Stole Christmas; written & illustrated by Dr. Seuss; Random House; 1957 

Junior Literary Guild Edition - somewhat rare (not seen by Younger/Hirsch).  Value is difficult to determine, being perhaps a book club edition, however unsure as to distribution, since the front and back endpapers are almost like a mock-up (with the words 'FRONT' and 'BACK').  Perplexing issue.

Front boards green cloth, with title and Grinch image in white embossing. 

Back boards green cloth; back DJ has emblem for Junior Literary Guild.

Front free endpaper with "How The Grinch Stole Christmas", followed by "FRONT".

Back free endpaper with "How The Grinch Stole Christmas", followed by "BACK" 

Front DJ flap with "BOOK CLUB EDITION" at bottom right.

Back DJ flap with picture of Dr. Seuss at top, then "PRINTED IN THE U.S.A." at the bottom.

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Dr. Seuss First Edition Identification

FOX IN SOCKS; written and illustrated by Dr. Seuss; Random House; 1965

Children’s Picturebook Price Guide Value - $260 VG+

Essential Identifying Point:

Dust jacket – Back DJ has three boxes of Beginner Books.

First box lists DR. SEUSS’S ABC

Second box lists eight books, two columns of four books.  The first column begins with Green Egg and ends with PUT ME IN THE ZOO.  The second column begins with ARE YOU MY MOTHER? and ends with THE BIKE LESSON.

Third box lists twenty-five books, in two columns.  The first column of thirteen books begins with CAT/HAT and ends with THE BIG JUMP.  The second column of twelve books begins with A BIG BALL OF STRING and ends with LITTLE BLACK GOES TO THE CIRCUS.

In the price guide, we place this book into Seuss Group C:  DJ Unique To First Printing / DJ Can Be Price Clipped,

In some ways, the second state book is more interesting to collect than the first state book, since FOX IN SOCKS is misspelled as FOX IN SOX.  In the second state book, the third box of Beginner Books contains two additional books on each column.  On the first column, I WISH I HAD DUCK Feet is added at the bottom of the list.  On the second column, FOX IN SOX is added to the bottom of the list.

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Dr. Seuss First Edition Identification

Hop On Pop; written and illustrated by Dr. Seuss; Random House; 1963

Children’s Picturebook Price Guide Value - $520 VG+

See GottaBook's Oddaptations for a synopsis

Essential Identifying Point:

Dust jacket – back dj is unique to first printing, as follows:

About HOP ON POP,

educators say:

Followed by five reviews from educators, which cover the majority of the back dust jacket. 

The back dj is absent a list of other Beginner Books.

In the price guide, we place this book into Seuss Group C:  DJ Unique To First Printing / DJ Can Be Price Clipped,

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Dr. Seuss First Edition Identification

If I Ran The Circus; written and illustrated by Dr. Seuss; Random House; 1956

Children’s Picturebook Price Guide Value - $1400 VG+

Essential Identifying Point:

Pink boards with matching pink dust jacket is unique to first printing.  Later printings have familiar red/yellow boards and dust jacket.

 In the price guide, we place this book into Seuss Group B:  Book Exterior Unique To First Printing / DJ Can Be Price Clipped,

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Yertle The Turtle And Other Stories; written and illustrated by Theodor Seuss Geisel; Random House; 1958

Children's Picturebook Price Guide Value:  $220 VG+

Essential identifying point

Page 54, Children’s Picture Price Guide is incorrect, as follows:

“The back dust jacket has 13 photos of previous Seuss books.”

Should read, as follows:

“The back dust jacket has 14 photos of previous Seuss books.”

Additional information

The Yertle story first appeared in the April 1951 issue of Redbook Magazine, which pre-dates the publication of the book by seven years.

Yertle The Turtle And Other Stories (Random, 1958) also includes the Gertrude McFuzz story, which was published in the July 1951 Redbook, and The Big Brag, which was originally published in the December 1950 Redbook. The copyright page in the book makes note of these earlier publications, as follows. 

“Copyright 1950, 1951, 1958 by Dr. Seuss”

At this time, all three of the Redbook Magazines are relatively affordable.

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In some cases, my research on first edition identification points for Dr. Seuss books differs from that found in the Younger/Hirsch book. Younger/Hirsch describes each book in great detail, and includes images, then concludes the passage on each book with a paragraph “FIRST PRINTING POINTS”, followed by the requisite information for the particular books identification.

The following is a list in which the Younger/Hirsch “FIRST PRINTING POINTS” indicates the book’s price on the DJ flap is a requirement for first edition identification, where my research indicates the price is not essential (the number is the Y/H index item for the book). As an example, for the Sleep Book, from Younger/Hirsch. "FIRST PRINTING POINTS: Correct ads on rear dw as listed above and 295/295 price".

20. Sleep Book (1968):  295/295 - price not necessary

21. Eye Book (1968):  195/195 – price not necessary

23. Foot Book (1968):  195/195 – price not necessary

30. Hop On Pop (1963):  195/195 – price not necessary

41. I Had Trouble In Getting To Solla Sollew (1965):  295/295 - price not necessary

42. I Wish I Had Duck Feet (1965):  195/195 – price not necessary

43. If I Ran The Circus (1956): 2 50/250 – price not necessary

45. In A People House (1972):  $2.50 – price not necessary

51. Marvin K. Mooney Will You Please Go Now (1972):  $2.50 – price not necessary

56. Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You? (1970):  $1.95 – price not necessary

72. Shape Of Me And Other Stuff (1972):  $2.50 – price not necessay

73. The Sneetches (1961):  295/295 - price not necessary

In all of the above books, my research is in agreement with the other identification points for the particular book, as follows.

The dust jackets are unique to the first printing (either back graphic or back flap) on books 20, 21, 23, 30, 41, 42, 56, and 73.

Regarding books 45, 51, and 72, Beginner Books changed their price from $1.95 to $2.50 in 1971/1972. They quit issuing dust jackets in 1973, therefore the books published in 1972 were only issued with the $2.50 price on dust jacket.

[Note: Cliff Erickson of To & Again Books indicates that there is an issue of Marvin K. Mooney with no price on the dust jacket. This issue is not documented in Younger/Hirsch, and is scarcer than the issue with the $2.50 price.] 

The first edition of If I Ran The Circus was the only printing with the pink boards and pink jacket. The second state book has the red colored cover which graces the book being sold in book stores today, and the price was raised to 295/295.

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Dr. Seuss First Edition Identification

The Cat In The Hat Comes Back, written & illustrated by Theodor Seuss Geisel
Random House, 1958

Children's Picturebook Price Guide Value:  $300 VG+ 

Essential identifying point

Copyright page:  Line with “FIRST PRINTING”

Essential Identifying Point

Book and DJ front cover:  Snowball at bottom left by Cat’s tail.

The ‘snowball’ point is of assistance if a later edition dust jacket is placed onto a first issue book—the first printing book and dust jacket match and are the only printings with the ‘snowball’. The book is easy enough to identify, being a stated edition. 

In the Children’s Picturebook Price Guide we categorize this type of Seuss book as “Group A:  Stated First Printing”.  Other Seuss books in the group include Lady Godiva and Horton Hatches The Egg.

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Dr. Seuss First Edition Identification

The Cat In The Hat, written & illustrated by Theodor Seuss Geisel
Random House, 1957

Children's Picturebook Price Guide Value:  $4,000 VG+ 

First Edition Identifying Point
Front DJ Flap:   Price "200/200"

First Issue Book
Book spine:  Single signature; 2nd issue and later printings have three signatures.

Be very careful with sellers substituting the 1985 facsimile dust jacket on the first edition book.  The only difference between the 1985 facsimile DJ and the first edition DJ is the phrase "Printed in U.S.A." on the bottom back flap of the facsimile.

Background

(Note:  The following is a Wikipedia entry, which we wrote.)

Dr. Seuss created The Cat In The Hat in reaction to the May 24, 1954 Life Magazine article by John Hersey, titled “Why Do Students Bog Down On First R? A LOCAL COMMITTEE SHEDS LIGHT ON A NATIONAL PROBLEM: READING.” In the article, Hersey was critical of school primers,

“In the classroom boys and girls are confronted with books that have insipid illustrations depicting the slicked-up lives of other children. [Existing primers] feature abnormally courteous, unnaturally clean boys and girls.” “In bookstores, anyone can buy brighter, livelier books featuring strange and wonderful animals and children who behave naturally, i.e., sometimes misbehave. Given incentive from school boards, publishers could do as well with primers.”

Hersey’s arguments were enumerated over ten pages of Life Magazine, which was the leading periodical during that time. After detailing many issues contributing to the dilemma connected with student reading levels, Hersey asked toward the end of the article:

“Why should [school primers] not have pictures that widen rather than narrow the associative richness the children give to the words they illustrate — drawings like those of the wonderfully imaginative geniuses among children’s illustrators, Tenniel, Howard Pyle, “Dr. Seuss,” Walt Disney?”

Dr. Seuss responded to this “challenge” by rigidly limiting himself to a small set of words from an elementary school vocabulary list, then crafted a story based upon two randomly selected words—cat and hat.

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