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THE PROPERTY OF A LADY
SEUSS, Dr. (Pseudonym of Theodore GEISEL, 1904-1991). And to Think That I Saw it on Mulberry Street. New York: The Vanguard Press, 1937.
Details
SEUSS, Dr. (Pseudonym of Theodore GEISEL, 1904-1991). And to Think That I Saw it on Mulberry Street. New York: The Vanguard Press, 1937.
4o. Color and black-and-white illustrations by the author. Original pictorial boards, decorated endpapers (some wear and chips along spine, light wear at extremities, some red crayon markings on rear cover). Provenance: Helene C. McClintock (presentation inscription from the author).
THE DEDICATION COPY OF SEUSS'S FIRST CHILDREN'S BOOK
FIRST EDITION, THE DEDICATION COPY, INSCRIBED BY DR. SEUSS TO THE WIFE OF HIS EDITOR AT VANGUARD PRESS, HELENE McCLINTOCK, on the verso of the front free endpaper: "To Helene, with thanks for the use of Marco (to say nothing of the use of Mike) -- Ted (Dr. Seuss)."
Ted Geisel (his mother's maiden name was Seuss) spent his early adulthood very much focused on academics, rather than whimsical rhymes. He studied English literature and edited the school humor magazine while a student at Dartmouth College and after his graduation in 1921 briefly attended Lincoln College at Oxford University to pursue a graduate degree. In 1926, deciding to abandon academics for a career as an illustrator, he returned to his hometown of Springfield, Massachusetts and began sending humorous pieces and cartoons to newspapers and magazines. Encouraged by the sale of a cartoon for $25 to Life magazine, Geisel moved to New York, married Helen Palmer (whom he'd met at Oxford) and established himself as a commercial artist. During this period, he created the advertising campaign for "Flit" insecticide, an account which provided him with financial security for the seventeen years that it survived. Other advertising work, for the likes of Standard Oil of New Jersey, Ford Motor Company and NBC, also proved lucrative for the young artist. In 1931, Geisel found a larger creative outlet illustrating Boners, a collection of children's sayings written by various authors. Its success was enough to warrant a second volume called More Boners.
It was not until 1936, however, that Geisel's artistic development truly took root. It was in this year that he and Helen boarded the new Swedish American luxury liner, the M.S. Kungsholm, to sail abroad. Returning home, Geisel was in a somber mood with images of war-torn Europe in his mind, and he decided aboard the Kungsholm that while it was interesting to illustrate someone else's words, as in Boners, it was time to get serious about his work and create his own children's tale. Horrendous storms pounded the ship on their return, making it impossible for Geisel to get settled. He fought off seasickness with a vodka on the rocks and two sheets of writing paper. Sitting on the upper-deck lounge, he began, "A stupid horse and wagon..." For eight days on the ship, "the chugging rhythm of its engines reverberated in Ted's head: Da-da-DA-da-da-DUM-DUM, da-DA-da-da-DUM" (this and the following quotations are from Judith and Neil Morgan, Dr. Seuss & Mr. Geisel, A Biography, New York, 1996, pp.81-82). He began to recite his words to a similar rhythm, starting with that of "'Twas the Night Before Christmas," but soon crafted the rhythmic refrain, "And that is a story that no one can beat, and to think that I saw it on Mulberry Street." The incessant rhythm churning through his mind drove him "nuts." At Helen's urging, "and as what he hoped would be therapy, he set out to develop a story around the rhythm, using the shipboard notes."
Geisel laboriously worked on his manuscript, spending six months on revision before he was satisfied enough to take the book to publishers. He carried the manuscript around Manhattan marketing it as A Story That No One Can Beat. A battery of rejections beat him back. In all, during the winter of 1936-37, twenty-seven publishers rejected the book. The main complaint: there was no moral message. He balked to his wife: "What's wrong with kids having fun reading without being preached at?"
On the day of his twenty-seventh rejection, Geisel walked down a cold and windy Madison Avenue disgusted with his book. He would have to focus on his cartooning for adults and be satisfied with the good fortune he'd found in that work. But a chance meeting with Mike McClintock, who had been a year behind him at Dartmouth, dramatically changed the course of his career. "'What's that under your arm?'" McClintock asked. 'That's a book that no one will publish. I'm lugging it home to burn.' McClintock smiled. Three hours earlier he had become juvenile editor of Vanguard Press. 'We're standing outside my new office,' he said. 'Come on up and let's look at it.'" Within 30 minutes McClintock was introducing Geisel to the firm's President, James Henle. Henle agreed to publish the book with the provision that it be given "a snappier title." Having Henle as his publisher was a significant benefit for Seuss, as, in the words of another Vanguard editor, "Henle always let the author do what he wanted to do, however unusual it might seem... He resisted the urge to give a lot of advice." Geisel later said of his luck that day, "if I'd been going down the other side of Madison Avenue, I'd be in the dry-cleaning business today."
Seuss wanted to do something special for Mike McClintock, the first editor to see the genius of Seuss's creations within the heap of apparent nonsense. In honor of his editor, Seuss gave the name of McClintock's son Marco to the storyteller of Mulberry Street and dedicated the book to his wife, Helene. The printed dedication reads: "For Helene McC. Mother of the One and Original Marco." Seuss's simple dedication and inscription to Helene McClintock belies the significance of the book's publication and the circumstances which led to it. From Mulberry Street in 1937 to Oh the Places You'll Go! in 1990, Seuss created 47 books that changed the way children read. According to the list of best-selling children's books of all time compiled by Publisher's Weekly, 16 of the top 100 were written by Seuss, with a total of 30 titles appearing in the top 170. Russell Ash, author of The Top 10 of Everything records that Seuss's sales in the United States alone topped 30,000,000. World-wide sales are estimated to be in excess of 100,000,000 copies, making him one of the best-selling authors of children's books of all time.
An exceptional association copy of the book which began Seuss's remarkable career as the 20th century's most widely read author of illustrated children's books. See Judith and Neil Morgan, Dr. Seuss & Mr. Geisel, A Biography, New York, 1996.
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THE DEDICATION COPY OF SEUSS'S FIRST CHILDREN'S BOOK
FIRST EDITION, THE DEDICATION COPY, INSCRIBED BY DR. SEUSS TO THE WIFE OF HIS EDITOR AT VANGUARD PRESS, HELENE McCLINTOCK, on the verso of the front free endpaper: "To Helene, with thanks for the use of Marco (to say nothing of the use of Mike) -- Ted (Dr. Seuss)."
Ted Geisel (his mother's maiden name was Seuss) spent his early adulthood very much focused on academics, rather than whimsical rhymes. He studied English literature and edited the school humor magazine while a student at Dartmouth College and after his graduation in 1921 briefly attended Lincoln College at Oxford University to pursue a graduate degree. In 1926, deciding to abandon academics for a career as an illustrator, he returned to his hometown of Springfield, Massachusetts and began sending humorous pieces and cartoons to newspapers and magazines. Encouraged by the sale of a cartoon for $25 to Life magazine, Geisel moved to New York, married Helen Palmer (whom he'd met at Oxford) and established himself as a commercial artist. During this period, he created the advertising campaign for "Flit" insecticide, an account which provided him with financial security for the seventeen years that it survived. Other advertising work, for the likes of Standard Oil of New Jersey, Ford Motor Company and NBC, also proved lucrative for the young artist. In 1931, Geisel found a larger creative outlet illustrating Boners, a collection of children's sayings written by various authors. Its success was enough to warrant a second volume called More Boners.
It was not until 1936, however, that Geisel's artistic development truly took root. It was in this year that he and Helen boarded the new Swedish American luxury liner, the M.S. Kungsholm, to sail abroad. Returning home, Geisel was in a somber mood with images of war-torn Europe in his mind, and he decided aboard the Kungsholm that while it was interesting to illustrate someone else's words, as in Boners, it was time to get serious about his work and create his own children's tale. Horrendous storms pounded the ship on their return, making it impossible for Geisel to get settled. He fought off seasickness with a vodka on the rocks and two sheets of writing paper. Sitting on the upper-deck lounge, he began, "A stupid horse and wagon..." For eight days on the ship, "the chugging rhythm of its engines reverberated in Ted's head: Da-da-DA-da-da-DUM-DUM, da-DA-da-da-DUM" (this and the following quotations are from Judith and Neil Morgan, Dr. Seuss & Mr. Geisel, A Biography, New York, 1996, pp.81-82). He began to recite his words to a similar rhythm, starting with that of "'Twas the Night Before Christmas," but soon crafted the rhythmic refrain, "And that is a story that no one can beat, and to think that I saw it on Mulberry Street." The incessant rhythm churning through his mind drove him "nuts." At Helen's urging, "and as what he hoped would be therapy, he set out to develop a story around the rhythm, using the shipboard notes."
Geisel laboriously worked on his manuscript, spending six months on revision before he was satisfied enough to take the book to publishers. He carried the manuscript around Manhattan marketing it as A Story That No One Can Beat. A battery of rejections beat him back. In all, during the winter of 1936-37, twenty-seven publishers rejected the book. The main complaint: there was no moral message. He balked to his wife: "What's wrong with kids having fun reading without being preached at?"
On the day of his twenty-seventh rejection, Geisel walked down a cold and windy Madison Avenue disgusted with his book. He would have to focus on his cartooning for adults and be satisfied with the good fortune he'd found in that work. But a chance meeting with Mike McClintock, who had been a year behind him at Dartmouth, dramatically changed the course of his career. "'What's that under your arm?'" McClintock asked. 'That's a book that no one will publish. I'm lugging it home to burn.' McClintock smiled. Three hours earlier he had become juvenile editor of Vanguard Press. 'We're standing outside my new office,' he said. 'Come on up and let's look at it.'" Within 30 minutes McClintock was introducing Geisel to the firm's President, James Henle. Henle agreed to publish the book with the provision that it be given "a snappier title." Having Henle as his publisher was a significant benefit for Seuss, as, in the words of another Vanguard editor, "Henle always let the author do what he wanted to do, however unusual it might seem... He resisted the urge to give a lot of advice." Geisel later said of his luck that day, "if I'd been going down the other side of Madison Avenue, I'd be in the dry-cleaning business today."
Seuss wanted to do something special for Mike McClintock, the first editor to see the genius of Seuss's creations within the heap of apparent nonsense. In honor of his editor, Seuss gave the name of McClintock's son Marco to the storyteller of Mulberry Street and dedicated the book to his wife, Helene. The printed dedication reads: "For Helene McC. Mother of the One and Original Marco." Seuss's simple dedication and inscription to Helene McClintock belies the significance of the book's publication and the circumstances which led to it. From Mulberry Street in 1937 to Oh the Places You'll Go! in 1990, Seuss created 47 books that changed the way children read. According to the list of best-selling children's books of all time compiled by Publisher's Weekly, 16 of the top 100 were written by Seuss, with a total of 30 titles appearing in the top 170. Russell Ash, author of The Top 10 of Everything records that Seuss's sales in the United States alone topped 30,000,000. World-wide sales are estimated to be in excess of 100,000,000 copies, making him one of the best-selling authors of children's books of all time.
An exceptional association copy of the book which began Seuss's remarkable career as the 20th century's most widely read author of illustrated children's books. See Judith and Neil Morgan, Dr. Seuss & Mr. Geisel, A Biography, New York, 1996.