First Edition Identification
Dr. Seuss Beginner Books B-14
1960 The King’s Wish and Other Stories
1960 B-14 The King’s Wish and Other Stories
Benjamin Elkin. Leonard Shortall (Illustrator). The King’s Wish and Other Stories. New York. Beginner Books: 1960.
Pages#: 64 pages.
Book Description: Color illustrated boards wrapped in matching dust jacket. The 14th book in the groundbreaking Beginner Book series, written specifically to help children learn to read while simultaneously engaging and entertaining them. The book contains three stories about the King of Tam. Told using only 200 different words.
Pagination: Front fixed and free endpapers illustrated in color; [i] title and copyright; 2-63 story; [64] blank; back free and fixed endpaper illustrated in color.
Collectibility Context
The first edition book in its original first edition DJ is a Very Collectible: Early book in ground breaking Beginner Books series, which changed the way children learned to read in America. Embraced by the public for 64 years with hundreds of thousands of copies sold. The author and illustrator are highly successful in the children’s book market with decades of success between them. Little pop culture appeal.
The Collectibility of a first edition American picturebook is comprised of specific factors, as explained in detail at Factors Affecting Collectibility.
| Scarcity | Collect ibility | Illust. | 1st Early Late | Author | Awards | Pop Culture | Copies Sold | Fran chise |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 10 |
Scarcity Context
The first edition book in its original first edition DJ is Uncommon: There was only 1 first edition found in the March 2024 survey offered at $95. This first edition is not scarce, just that the market price is too low for copies to surface.
First Edition Book & Dust Jacket Descriptions
Book Front: Bound in blue paper covered boards with color illustration. “The / King’s Wish / AND OTHER STORIES / by BENJAMIN ELKIN / ILLUSTRATED BY / LEONARD SHORTALL”
Note: Click on any of the book’s images to see at larger scale.
Book Back: Bound in blue paper covered boards. Blank with no illustration or text.
Book Spine: “[BB logo] BEGINNER BOOKS [black horizontal text] The King’s Wish ELKIN B-14 [white horizontal text]”
Title Page: “The / King’s Wish / AND OTHER STORIES / By BENJAMIN ELKIN / Illustrated by LEONARD SHORTALL / [illustration] / Beginner Books, Inc. / DISTRIBUTED BY RANDOM HOUSE / [three-line copyright statement]”
Copyright: “First Printing. (c) Copyright 1960 by Benjamin Elkin. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conven- / tions. Published in New York by Beginner Books, Inc., and simultaneously in Toronto, Canada, by Random House of / Canada, Limited. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 60-13491. Manufactured in the United States of America.”
DJ Front: Color illustration matching Book Front. With added Beginner Books logo. “The / [Beginner Book logo top right] / King’s Wish / AND OTHER STORIES / by BENJAMIN ELKIN / ILLUSTRATED BY / LEONARD SHORTALL”
DJ Back: Beginner Books DJ Back ‘F’: 1960 18 Titles
“[Cat In The Hat illustration top left] / I can read them / all by myself! / ELEMENTARY EDUCATORS from all over the country … [… paragraph] / REMEDIAL READING SPECIALISTS have acclaimed… [… paragraph] / Books for Beginners (Average Reading Vocabulary – 210 words) / [list of 15 BB titles starting with THE CAT IN THE HAT to THE KINGS WISH & OTHER STORIES] / for BEGINNING Beginners / 50 word vocabulary 100 word vocabulary 100 word vocabulary / GREEN EGGS AND HAM PUT ME IN THE ZOO ARE YOU MY MOTHER? / DR. SEUSS ROBERT LOPSHIRE P. D. EASTMAN / Beginner Books, Inc. / DISTRIBUTED BY RANDOM HOUSE, 457 MADISON AVE. NEW YORK 22, N.Y.”
DJ Spine: “[BB logo] BEGINNER BOOKS [black horizontal text] The King’s Wish ELKIN B-14 [white horizontal text]”
DJ Price: 195/195
DJ Flap Front: “195/195 [top right] / [Illustration] / The / King’s Wish / AND OTHER STORIES / By BENJAMIN ELKIN / Kings, palaces, bows and arrows …! / Three colorful fast-moving stories … [… paragraph] / Dr. Elkin (who is an educator as … […paragraph] / And he tells them using only 200 … […paragraph] /A picture on every page helps ex-… […paragraph] /the exciting illustrations by Leon-… […paragraph] / [following five-lines inside yellow box] ALSO BY BENJAMIN ELKIN IN / BEGINNER BOOK EDITION/ THE BIG JUMP / “Recommmended for all elementory and / public libraries.” / — Library Journal”
DJ Flap Back: “[Photograph of Benjamin Elkin] / [Three paragraph Benjamin Elkin biography] / [Caricature of Leaonard Shortall] / [Two paragraph Leonard Shortall biography]”
First Edition Identification
First edition book states ‘First Printing’ and “Distributed by Random House” on the title/copyright page, and has ‘B-14’ on the spine.
First edition dust jacket is Beginner Books 1960 DJ ‘F’ with 18 titles listed and “Distributed by Random House’ with ‘B-14’ on the DJ spine. See Beginner Books Dust Jacket Backs from Chapter 52 of the First Edition Identification Guide: Beginner Books
Second Printings and Later
Second printing book is identical to first printing, ‘First Printing’ and “Distributed by Random House” on the title/copyright page, and has ‘B-14’ on the spine.
Second printing dust jacket is 1960 ‘F’ version ‘c’ with “DIVISION OF RANDOM HOUSE”. See Beginner Books Dust Jacket Backs from Chapter 52 of the First Edition Identification Guide: Beginner Books
Third printing book omits ‘First Printing’ and “DISTRIBUTED BY RANDOM HOUSE” from the title/copyright page.
BB-14 The King’s Wish Third Printing \
Third printing dust jacket is 1960 ‘F’ version ‘c’ with “DIVISION OF RANDOM HOUSE”.
See First Fifty Beginner Books for first edition identification of the first 50 Beginner Books.
See Beginner Books Dust Jacket Backs to see the chronological sequence of the Beginner Books dust jackets.
All of this information is sourced from the First Edition Identification Guide: Beginner Books (2024, Flying Moose Books), by Stan Zielinski.