“THEN BRING YOUR PUZZLES, TROUBLES, CARES, AND LOAD THEM ON THE TEDDY BEARS”

EATON, Seymour. Teddy-B and Teddy-G the Bear Detectives. Illustrated by Francis P. Wightman and William K. Sweeny. New York: Barse & Hopkins, (1909). Quarto, original half gray cloth, mounted cover illustration. $1250.

Early edition, published in the same year as the first, with color mounted cover illustration, color frontispiece and six full-page color illustrations, as well as numerous in-text black-and-white illustrations.

Eaton, one of the first professors at the new Drexel Institute of Technology and prolific newspaper author, wrote, in 1905 and 1906, a “series of stories about two bears, Teddy-G and Teddy-B (the ‘G’ stood for gray and ‘B’ for black), who had encountered President Teddy Roosevelt on a hunting trip. The fully illustrated serial stories syndicated in 20 newspapers ran for 29 weeks during the height of President Roosevelt’s popularity. Originally, Eaton hesitated to attach his name to the stories because he continued to write on mature subjects and feared that his reputation would suffer… but as the success of the Roosevelt Bears became apparent he began to identify himself as the author. The stories eventually were collected and expanded into books and were quite popular. Over his colorful career Eaton wrote hundreds of books but is best known for the stories for which he initially did not want to take credit” (Greater Lansdowne Civic Association). First published by E. Stern of Philadelphia the same year. Without extremely scarce original dust jacket. Juvenile owner signature. Small institutional inkstamp.

Interior generally clean. Light toning to spine, light wear and embrowning to edges of boards, minor rubbing to mounted cover illustration. An attractive, near-fine copy.