Happy Birthday To You!, purchased and inscribed for a young mother in 1963 at a bookshop one mile from Dr. Seuss’s La Jolla, California home.
New York: Random House, 1959. First edition, early printing. Hardcover. This first edition, early printing, was inscribed by Dr. Seuss for a young mother in 1963 at a bookshop one mile from Dr. Seuss’s home in La Jolla, California. It was acquired by us directly from the person for whom this book was purchased, to whom it was inscribed, and whose family enjoyed this book for three generations. This copy is inscribed on the lower left corner of the front free endpaper verso in four lines “for | JiLL | with Best Wishes | Dr. Seuss” with a characteristic Dr. Seuss squiggle between the valediction and signature.
Condition
As Dr. Seuss surely intended when he signed this copy for a young mother in 1963, this book has been read, a lot, and then some more. If you seek a pristine, “trophy” copy, this book is not for you. Instead, it is imbued with provenance and story.
This copy is an early printing (definitively 1963 or before since that was the year it was purchased and inscribed). Both the book and its dust jacket are identical to the first printing with the sole exception of missing white dots just below the text in the background at the foot of the verso of the 19th leaf. Per Younger and Hirsch, “…there are 6 or 7 white spots that do not appear in later printings and which do appear on the original artwork. Later printings with the white dots removed have been seen with the first issue dust wrapper…” This copy is one such.
Condition is good plus in a very good dust jacket. The glossy paper-covered boards binding is square and tight, with mild, uniform spine toning, the white print still clearly legible with plenty of contrast remaining. There is light overall soiling with most of the modest shelf wear confined to the spine ends and corners. The contents are bright, with no appreciable spotting. The first signature (the first six leaves) is still attached to the binding, but the binding cords are visible, the signature a bit loose. Dr. Seuss’s inscription, inked in blue on the lower left front free endpaper verso, is bright and clean. Affixed to the lower left rear pastedown is the printed and illustrated ticket of “John Cole’s Book & Craft Shop” in La Jolla, California, where this book was purchased and inscribed. The dust jacket is both bright and complete, with no loss and with the printed “295/295” intact on the upper front flap. Dust jacket wear is primarily confined to extremities, joints, and flap folds, with mild soiling evident only to the white rear face. We note faint, barely discernible vertical creases, right of center on the rear face and left of center on the front face. The jacket is protected beneath a clear, removable, archival cover.
Provenance
This book’s life story is as compelling as the story within
In 1959, the family of the “Jill” to whom this book is inscribed moved from Los Angeles to Point Loma in San Diego – a beautiful peninsula protecting San Diego’s vaunted natural harbor. Point Loma is just a few miles south of La Jolla, the seaside promontory to which Dr. Seuss had moved in 1948, where he lived the rest of his life, and where he wrote the majority of his books.
In July 1963, Jill had her first child – a boy, Jeff. For Jill’s birthday that November, her mom decided to give her a gift that she could share with her new baby. Jill’s mom was friends with Barbara Cole, proprietor of John Cole’s Books in La Jolla, and Barbara was friends with Dr. Seuss, who lived exactly one mile away from the shop. So, with Barbara’s help, Jill’s mom got Dr. Seuss to inscribe 22 brand new copies of his books – of which this is one – in the fall of 1963. Jill read and reread these books to Jeff and his little sister, Lauren, born in 1966, throughout their childhood. Jill and her husband raised Jeff and Lauren in Point Loma, in the same house where, eventually, they read and reread this and their other Dr. Seuss books to their granddaughters, just as they had once read them to their children.
With both children and grandchildren grown, Jill decided to entrust her Dr. Seuss books to us. Hence we now offer this book from their collection to a new owner for the first time since it was purchased for Jill by her mom and inscribed by Dr. Seuss in 1963.
Reference: Younger & Hirsch, First Editions of Dr. Seuss Books, 2002, with 2004 corrections, Entry 28, pp. 78-80. Item #008813
Price: $750.00