500 HATS OF BARTHOLOMEW CUBBINS

New York: Vanguard, 1938. Very good in very good plus to near fine jacket.. First edition of Seuss's second book, a HORNBOOK review copy with their name stamped on the front endpaper. In this fairy tale a little boy finds himself in trouble with a king when he is unable to remove his hat, growing another as each is displaced. The story was inspired in part by a train ride in which Seuss became annoyed with a neighboring rider's hat - which he then began to daydream about removing by force. The proliferation of hats, however, was more directly influenced by Seuss's own collecting: he had almost 100 different hats, including "fire hats, a feathered admiral's cap, and a particularly ornate Czech army helmet" (Jones). Perhaps the hardest to find first edition of all of Seuss's books, this copy comes directly from the stock of Aleph-Bet Books, the firm of Seuss bibliographers Helen Younger and Marc Younger. 11.75'' x 8.75''. Original cloth backed pictorial boards. In original unclipped ($1.50) dust jacket, supplied from another copy. Red pictorial endpapers with larger hats on pastedowns. Illustrated throughout in black and white with only Bartholomew's hat in red. [48] pages. Red "Horn Book" stamp on front free endpaper. Book with subtle repairs to edges and corners, spine slightly faded and ends somewhat frayed. Jacket with light wear to edges and spine ends, some faint toning.