Horton Hatches the Egg.

New York: Random House, 1940. Early printing of this Seuss classic. Quarto, original cloth, illustrated, second state dust jacket with $2.50 price to back flap and description of The King's Stilts. Very good in a very good price-clipped dust jacket. Child's ownership inscriptions to the front free endpaper and rear panel of the dust jacket. Written and illustrated by Theodor Geisel under the pen name Dr. Seuss, Horton Hatches the Egg tells the story of Horton the Elephant, who is tricked into sitting on a bird's egg while its mother, Mayzie, takes a permanent vacation to Palm Beach. Horton endures a number of hardships but persists, often stating, "I meant what I said, and I said what I meant. An elephant's faithful, one hundred percent!" Ultimately, the egg hatches, revealing an elephant-bird, a creature with a blend of Mayzie's and Horton's features. The book was published to immediate critical acclaim and financial success and has remained popular with the general public. The book has also been used as the basis for academic articles on a variety of topics, including economics, Christianity, feminism, and adoption. Horton appeared again in the 1954 Dr. Seuss book Horton Hears a Who! These two books later provided the thrust of the plot for the 2000 Broadway musical Seussical.