Navigation To First Edition Beginner Books

Identifying First Edition Beginner Books

A couple of years ago I posted a series of blog articles which provided identification points for the first fifty Beginner Books, and later collected them into one permanant webpage (see Identifying First Edition Beginner Books).

The articles included identification points for each book, and provided the publication sequence along with the back dust jacket graphic. In essence the titles listed on the back of the dust jacket are the key to identifying most of the early Beginner Books. These articles were the first time identification points were posted for this set of Beginner Books.

While the articles centered upon the publication sequence of the dust jacket backs, they did not provide a good navigational method to each book, and today’s post is purposed to correct the oversight.

Accessible First Edition Identification Points Helps The Hobby

Book collectors and booksellers tend to shy away from books without documented first edition identification points, or in cases where the identification points are not well understood. There is too much risk buying or selling the unknown collectible.

Over the past three years book collector and bookseller interest has increased in the non-Seuss first edition Beginner Books (the Younger/Hirsch Guide To First Edition Dr. Seuss books helped the hobby with the Seuss first edition Beginner Books). People have become more confident buying and selling first edition Beginner Books. The market for the later printings is also more robust.

One of my underlying purposes for this blog and the parent web site is to make first edition idenfication points more transparent and accessible for contemporary American picturebooks. In the long run I strongly believe this will strengthen the hobby.

Many traditional booksellers are not in agreement with this philosophy, since they profit from their proprietary knowledge of first edition identification points:

• Book collectors must rely upon them for this proprietary information.
• Proprietary knowledge of first edition identification points is a competitive advantage over less well-informed booksellers.
• Less scrupulous booksellers can make a windfall profit by purchasing books from a less informed public
  (Note: In open shop transactions, by rules of the trade, offers from reputable booksellers will be wholesale market prices for first edition books, even if the seller is unaware of the issue of their holdings.)

This traditional thinking impairs the hobby of collecting first edition American picturebooks. Proprietary and possessive ownership of first edition identification points:

• Limits the number of collectors who want to participate in the hobby.
• Limits the number of booksellers who want to participate in the hobby.
• Reduces the liquidity of first edition picturebooks.
• Suppresses the price/value of first edition picturebooks.

More people will enter the hobby as they learn first edition picturebooks are valuable collectibles. The books have a familiarity to a large number of people, and picturebooks are very accessible – most can be read and appreciated in moments. And we will continue our small part to promote the hobby.

Click on the front cover image, below, to the respective page for first edition identification points for each Beginner Book.

This information is from the First Edition Identification Guide: Beginner Books (2024, Flying Moose Books), by Stan Zielinski.

1957 B-01

The Cat In The Hat

1958 B-02

Cat In The Hat Comes Back

1958 B-03

A Fly Went By

1958 B-04

The Big Jump And Other Stories

1958 B-05

A Big Ball Of String

1958 B-06

Sam And The Firefly

1959 B-07

You Will Go To The Moon

1959 B-08

Cowboy Andy

1959 B-09

The Whales Go By

1959 B-10

Stop That Ball!

1959 B-11

Bennett Cerf's Book Of Laughs

1959 B-12

Ann Can Fly

1960 B-13

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish

1960 B-14

The King's Wish And Other Stories

1960 B-15

Bennett Cerf's Book Of Riddles

1960 B-16

Green Eggs And Ham

1960 B-17

Put Me In The Zoo

1960 B-18

Are You My Mother?

1961 B-19

Ten Apples Up On Top!

1961 B-20

Go, Dog, Go!

1961 B-21

Little Black, A Pony

1961 B-22

Look Out For Pirates

1961 B-23

Fish Out Of Water

1961 B-24

Bennett Cerf's More Riddles

1962 B-25

Robert The Rose Horse

1962 B-26

I Was Kissed By A Seal At The Zoo

1962 B-27

Snow

1962 B-28

The Big Honey Hunt

1963 B-29

Hop On Pop

1963 B-30

Dr. Seuss's ABC

1963 B-31

Do You Know What I'm Going To Do Next Saturday?

1963 B-32

Summer

1963 B-33

Little Black Goes To The Circus

1964 B-34

Bennett Cerf's Book Of Animal Riddles

1964 B-35

Why I Built The Boogle House

1964 B-36

The Bike Lesson

1964 B-37

How To Make Flibbers

1965 B-38

Fox In Socks

1965 B-39

The King, The Mice And The Cheese

1965 B-40

I Wish That I Had Duck Feet

1966 B-41

The Bears' Picnic

1966 B-42

Don And Donna Go To Bat

1966 B-43

You Will Live Under The Sea

1966 B-44

Come Over To My House

1967 B-45

Babar Loses His Crown

1967 B-46

The Bear Scouts

1967 B-47

The Digging-Est Dog

1967 B-48

Travels Of Doctor Dolittle

1968 B-49

Doctor Dolittle And The Pirates

1968 B-50

Off To The Races

See Beginner Book Dust Jacket Backs to see the chronological sequence of the Beginner Books dust jacket backs.

This information is from the First Edition Identification Guide: Beginner Books (2024, Flying Moose Books), by Stan Zielinski.

© Stan Zielinski
A serious collector having fun with fun books.