Horton Hatches the Egg

New York: Random House, 1940. First Edition. Hardcover. Near fine/very good. First printing, quarto size, [55 pp.], with publisher's dust jacket. Theodor Seuss Geisel (1904-1991) will forever be remembered as the beloved "Dr. Seuss", creator of numerous stories for children. Often written as nonsensical lines in the tradition of the great Edward Lear, his stories resonate with both children and adults.

The recipient of numerous awards and accolades, he won the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award in 1958 for this book, "Horton Hatches the Egg". When asked by Mayzie the bird to keep her egg warm while she flys off on a vacation, Horton reluctantly agrees and guess what happens.... This the first appearance of Horton, who would appear again in Seuss's 1954 book, "Horton Hears a Who!"

Horton the kind-hearted elephant would make a wonderful role model for all: "[h]e is very popular because of his big heart and respectful compassion, which makes him more humorous". At the end of the story, Horton's reward came for being faithful and true: "he meant what he said, And he said what he meant..."

___DESCRIPTION: Bound in full textured lavendar cloth over boards, red lettering debossed on the front board, title page with a small vignette of Horton and the nest in black and red, red lettering, stated "First Printing" on the copyright page, story opens with a large red initial capital, colour lithographs in red, blue and black throughout; quarto size (10 3/8" by 8 3/8"), [55] pp. With the original, unsophisticated dust jacket with the correct price of $1.50 on both flaps, illustration on the front panel in red, blue and black includes Mayzie the bird (missing in subsequent printings), red and black lettering on the spine, back panel with review blurbs for prior Dr. Seuss titles and the correct address for the publisher, summary of the story on the front flap, summary of prior title ("The King's Stilts") on the back flap.

___CONDITION: Volume near fine, the cloth clean, the red lettering strong (not faded), straight corners, the two top corners unrubbed and the two bottom corners very slightly rubbed, a strong, square text block with solid hinges, the interior is clean and bright, and entirely free of prior owner markings; some toning to the paste-down endpapers and light sunning to the spine, else fine. The unclipped dust jacket a bit better than very good, entire, mostly clean with light overall dustiness and some toning to the top edges of the flaps, the spine somewhat sunned as is the left edge of the back panel, light overall edgewear most noticeable at the head and tail of the spine. Overall a wonderful example of the true first edition of this work.

___CITATION: Younger & Hirsch no. 31; first printing with statement on copyright page and correct prices on both flaps. In the first issue dust jacket with the bird ("Mayzie") pictured on the front panel of the jacket and the correct address for Random House on the back panel of the jacket.

___POSTAGE: International customers, please note that additional postage may apply as the standard does not always cover costs; please inquire for details.

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