The Kings Stilts, 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, 1939. First edition, 1963 printing. Hardcover. This 1963 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 1939, The King’s Stilts, one of his early prose efforts, was the first Dr. Seuss children’s book published by Random House. Seuss’s publishing relationship with Random house would span the rest of his life and the vast majority of his published books over more than half a century. The relationship not only made “Dr. Seuss” a household name, but strongly influenced the nature and style of children’s books; the success of Dr. Seuss’s groundbreaking The Cat in the Hat (1957) launched Random House’s new “Beginner Books” division, with Dr. Seuss as its president.
The title page verso, which lists 23 “OTHER BOOKS BY DR. SEUSS”, lets us speculate with confidence that this copy was printed in 1963. The most recent titles in the list are 1963’s Hop on Pop and Dr. Seuss’s ABC and this book was purchased new and inscribed in 1963.
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 minus in a good plus dust jacket. The glossy paper-covered boards binding is tight and unfaded, though with minor scuffing to the surfaces and edgewear, particularly to the corners and spine ends. The contents are clean and bright apart from light spotting, mostly confined to the prelims 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 unfaded and substantially complete, with only fractional loss to the spine head and an unclipped upper front flap printed “295/295”. Nonetheless, there is mild overall scuffing, wear to the joints, flap folds, a few tiny closed tears and attendant wrinkling, and vertical creases, one to the left rear face, two to the rear flap fold. 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 47, pp. 120-121. Item #008824
Price: $1,500.00