How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, 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, 1957. First edition, first printing. Hardcover. This first edition, first 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.
A cat and a curmudgeon for the ages
Dr. Seuss’s two best-known characters both appeared in one magical year. In the spring of 1957, Random House published The Cat in the Hat, whose huge success made "Dr. Seuss" a household name and launched the new Beginner Book division at Random House, with Dr. Seuss as its president, and his behatted cat as its logo. Then, having revolutionized child literacy, in fall of 1957, Dr. Seuss put his indelible stamp on Christmas with publication of How the Grinch Stole Christmas!. The curmudgeon-turned-festive-penitent, the Grinch was literary successor to Ebenezer Scrooge, and, like his predecessor, became an iconic holiday character, spawning a dizzying array of screen (both large and small) and theater adaptations, and of course a never-ending array of printings and editions.
Edition
Both volume and dust jacket are definitively first edition, first printing, per Younger & Hirsch. The volume conforms with binding size, material, and content, including rear cover reference to The Cat in the Hat priced at “$2.00, available at all bookstores”, and, within, by a list of 13 “Other Books by Dr. Seuss” on the recto of the second blank leaf following the text. The dust jacket conforms with a rear flap listing “14 books up to now” beginning with Mulberry Street and ending with Grinch and an intact “250/250” price on the lower front flap.
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.
Condition is good plus, complete and sound, though clearly loved, in a good plus dust jacket. The glossy paper-covered boards binding is square and tight, the boards bright, the spine uniformly toned to a blue (from the original green), the white lettering still clearly contrasting and legible. There is minor superficial scuffing and soiling, mostly to the rear board, and wear at the spine ends and corners, some revealing the card beneath. The contents are bright. Spotting is modest, manifest only to the first and final leaves and page edges. 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 complete, but worn at all extremities, soiled, and showing some color shift to the spine. The jacket is newly fitted with 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 33, pp. 91-93. Item #008816
Price: $5,000.00