Sneetches and Other Stories First Edition - Dr. Seuss - Bauman Rare Books

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Sneetches and Other Stories

Dr. SEUSS

Item#: 121177 We're sorry, this item has been sold

Sneetches and Other Stories

“THOSE STARS WEREN’T SO BIG. THEY WERE REALLY SO SMALL YOU MIGHT THINK SUCH A THING WOULDN’T MATTER AT ALL”

SEUSS, Dr. The Sneetches and Other Stories. New York: Random House, 1961. Quarto, original pictorial paper boards, pictorial endpapers, original dust jacket.

First edition of this collection of four Seuss stories, including the title tale, his pointed parable about “the shame of prejudice” (Cohen, 220).

In 1953, Geisel published in Redbook a three-stanza poem entitled "The Sneetches." "With economy of language and illustration? [Geisel distilled] prejudice down to a rhymed couplet in which he summed up the point of view for which he would ever after be known: 'And, really, it's sort of a shame, / For except for those stars, every Sneetch is the same? Ted's work on 'The Sneetches' and Horton Hears a Who! during the summer and fall of 1953 was the 'one-two' of the blade he had learned to wield against intolerance, and he was as much ahead of his fellow Americans as he had been in urging them to enter World War II" (Cohen, 221). The book version of "The Sneetches," found in this volume, retains the punch of the original; the remaining tales—"The Zax," "Too Many Daves" and "What Was I Scared Of?"— similarly teach tolerance, open-mindedness and the celebration of individuality. Younger & Hirsch 73. Connolly, 268.

A few instances of soiling to interior, bright boards and dust jacket with minimal wear, evidence of price sticker removal to dust jacket front flap. A near-fine copy.

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Aquatint Copperplate process by which the plate is “bitten” by exposure to acid. By changing the areas of the plate that are exposed and the length of time the plate is submerged in the acid bath, the engraver can obtain fine and varying shades of gray that closely resemble watercolor washes. Although the name contains the word “tint”, this is a black-and-white printing process; aquatint plates can often be hand colored, however.
Armorial Used to describe a binding bearing the coat of arms of the original owner, or with bookplates incorporating the owner’s arms.
Association Copy copy that belonged to someone connected with the author or the contents of a book.
Boards Hard front and rear covers of a bound book which are covered in cloth, leather or paper. “Original boards” refers to cardboard-like front and back boards, from about 1700 to 1840, used as temporary protection for books before their purchasers would have them bound. Of particular value to collectors as evidence of a very early form of the book.
Book-Plate Label, generally affixed to the front pastedown, identifying a book’s owner.
Broadside Sheet printed on one side, typically for public display, usually larger than folio size (a folio being a broadside-size sheet printed on both sides and folded once, to make four pages).
Calf Binding material made from cowhide—versatile, durable, usually tan or brown in color, of smooth texture with no or little apparent grain. Readily marbled (“tree calf”), mottled, diced, colored, polished, tooled in gilt or blind, even scented (known as “russia”). Reverse calf, with a distinctive suede-like texture, is occasionally used.
Chromolithograph Lithograph printed in colors, typically three or more.
Collation Process by which the contents of a book are inspected for completeness, checking against internal evidence, the table of contents and/or plate list, and reference works. Also a shorthand bibliographical description of a book’s composition by its leaves and signatures, rather than its pages. A-C, for example, would indicate a quarto volume composed of three signatures or gatherings of eight pages each for a total of 24 pages.
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Marginalia Handwritten notes made in the margins by a previous owner.
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Morocco Binding material made from goatskin—versatile, durable, with a distinctive pebbled texture and visible grain. Readily stretched (“straight-grain”), crushed (flattened smooth), tooled in gilt or blind, inlaid with leathers of different colors. So-called because much of the raw material originally came from the tanneries of North Africa (other types of goatskin bindings denoting regions of origin include levant, turkey, niger).
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Wormhole Tiny pinhole-sized trails left by bookworms as they eat through a text block. Much more common in older books printed on handmade papers with a high rag content than in books printed on manufactured papers made from wood pulp with a higher acidic content.
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