1929 Newbery Honor Book<\/p>\n
Children\u2019s Picturebook Price Guide<\/strong><\/em> Value \u2013 $4000 VG+<\/p>\n “In the fall of 1928 a picture book about a gentle peasant who went off in search of a kitten and returned with millions of cats was published. The picture book was something new in the field of children\u2019s literature. And the artist\u2019s name became a household word wherever small children were found.”<\/p>\n — Rose Dobbs, Horn Book Magazine, Nov \u2013 Dec 1935.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n We concur with Ms. Dobbs, and consider Millions Of Cats<\/em><\/strong> the first true picturebook. (For rationale, please see Children\u2019s Picturebook Price Guide<\/em><\/strong>, Chapter 1, Today\u2019s Golden Era Of Picturebooks; Development And Evolution of the Picturebook Market; Beginning of the Modern Picturebook.)<\/p>\n \n Copyright page has five lines, see image, below:<\/p>\n Later printings omitted the last line with the Jersey City Printing Co.<\/p>\n \n The title page ends with three lines as follows:<\/p>\n \n Front and back dust jacket flaps are blank (white).<\/p>\n The back dust jacket is blank on the first printing (yellow).<\/p>\n The back dust jacket on second state copies have a one paragraph biography on Wanda G\u00e1g, followed by an endorsement of Millions Of Cats<\/em> by Rockwell Kent. This is followed by a one paragraph review of the book by Anne Carroll Moore.<\/p>\n \n A similar back DJ composition was used on both the first printing of Wanda G\u00e1g\u2019s The Funny Thing<\/em><\/strong> (1929) and Snippy And Snappy<\/em><\/strong> (1931). There are a couple of subtle differences. Wanda\u2019s last name is ” Gag ” on the back DJ of the second state Millions Of Cats<\/em>,<\/strong> whereas it is changed to ” Ga\u2019g ” on the latter two books. Presumably it was not possible to typeset an ” \u00e1 ” in 1928. Also, Wanda “was born \u2026 in a desolate Minnesota village” on the back DJ of Millions Of Cats<\/em><\/strong>, while she “was born \u2026 in a small Minnesota town” on the back of the latter two. Apparently New Ulm, Minnesota went through an economic transformation from 1928 to 1929, changing from a desolate village<\/em> into a thriving small town<\/em>.<\/p>\n The historical importance of the book is underappreciated by the general public, however not so within the bibliophile hobby, as the steep market value will attest. The book is still in print today, which is quite remarkable for a children\u2019s picturebook. How many other picturebooks from the 1920\u2019s are still in print today?<\/p>\n Barbara Bader, in her wonderful opus American Picturebooks, from Noah\u2019s Ark to the Beast Within<\/em><\/strong>, also infers that Millions Of Cats<\/em> is the first true picturebook. In her second chapter, she provides some historical background on illustrated books and books with pictures, while providing insight into the children\u2019s publishing industry leading and into the 1920\u2019s, then ends the chapter with “All that was needed was a star performer and a big hit\u2014Wanda G\u00e1g and Millions Of Cats<\/em><\/strong>.”<\/p>\n In Bader\u2019s next chapter, titled “Wanda G\u00e1g”, she writes:<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/1stedition.net\/ssl\/Images\/MillionsOfCatsFrontDJ.jpg\")
<\/p>\nEssential Identifying Points – Book<\/h3>\n
\nCopyright 1928, by Coward McCann , INC. All rights reserved.
\nCOWARD McCANN , INC.
\nAll rights reserved.
\nPrinted in U.S.A.
\nBy the Jersey City Printing Co.<\/h4>\n![](\"https:\/\/1stedition.net\/ssl\/Images\/MillionsOfCatsCopyrightPage.jpg\")
<\/p>\nPUBLISHED IN NEW YORK by<\/h4>\n
COWARD-McCANN, Inc.<\/h4>\n
IN THE YEAR 1928<\/h4>\n
![](\"https:\/\/1stedition.net\/ssl\/Images\/MillionsOfCatsTitlePage.jpg\")
<\/p>\nEssential Identifying Points \u2013 Dust Jacket<\/h3>\n
![](\"https:\/\/1stedition.net\/ssl\/Images\/MillionsOfCatsBackDJ.jpg\")
<\/p>\nMillions Of Cats \u2013 The First American Picturebook!<\/h3>\n