Horton Hatches the Egg, 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, 1940. First edition, later printing. Hardcover. This likely 1958 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 1940, Horton Hatches the Egg is Dr. Seuss’s tale of the resolutely maternalistic elephant who is “faithful One hundred per cent!” This is an early printing, with no further print history on the title page, but we can speculate with some confidence that it was likely published in 1958. The rear face of the first printing dust jacket listed “the seven other books by Dr. Seuss”. This copy’s dust jacket lists 16, the latest of which are 1958’s Yertle the Turtle and The Cat in the Hat Comes Back. None of the Dr. Seuss titles published between 1959 and 1963, when this copy was purchased and inscribed, appear on this dust jacket’s list of “other books by Dr. Seuss”.
The dust jacket’s front flap, front face, spine, and rear flap all match those of the first printing, with the exception of “295/295” on the upper front flap replacing the first printing’s “$1.50”. The rear face of course differs in listing all of the Dr. Seuss children’s book titles published through 1958.
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 very good in a very good minus dust jacket. The matte paper-covered binding is square, bright, and tight, marred only by modest wear to extremities, light spotting to the blank rear panel, and two tiny scuffs to the upper rear panel. The contents are bright with light spotting primarily confined to the page edges and endpapers, the latter showing differential toning corresponding to the dust jacket flaps. 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 unclipped, the printed “295/295” intact on the upper front flap, and substantially complete, the only appreciable loss being a .75 x 1.25 inches triangular chip to the lower rear face. Mild spine toning affects only the red author and publisher print. The jacket shows modest wear to spine ends, joints, and flap folds, as well as spotting, most prominent to the rear face. The dust 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 31, pp. 85-87. Item #008823
Price: $1,000.00