Horton Hears a Who!, 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, 1954. First edition, 1962 printing. Hardcover. This likely 1962 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.
Edition
Originally published in 1954, Horton Hears a Who! reintroduces the resolutely decent elephant who first appeared in 1940’s Horton Hatches the Egg.
This is an early printing. While the title page verso offers no print history beyond the original 1954 publication date, we can speculate with some confidence that this copy was printed in 1962. The title page verso features a list of 21 “Other Books by Dr. Seuss”, the latest of which is 1962’s Dr. Seuss’s Sleep Book. Neither of the two Dr. Seuss titles published in 1963 – Hop on Pop and Dr. Seuss’s ABC – appear.
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. The glossy paper-covered boards binding remains tight with a mild forward lean, minor overall scuffing, some soiling to the white rear board, light uniform sunning to the spine, and wear to extremities and joints. The contents are bright with minor spotting primarily confined to the first and final leaves. 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.
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 32, pp. 88-90. Item #008817
Price: $750.00