Valediction 29: a trip to Mulberry Street
Brian Alderson is presenting his unique collection of children’s books to Seven Stories and Newcastle University. Among the books he is passing on, some early American works.
Following the attempt by Puffin Books to ensure that worried parents could protect their children from the works of Roald Dahl it is good to hear that similar measures may occur on the other side of the Atlantic. It is perhaps predictable that a ban may extend to the picture books of Tomi Ungerer and especially his pornography! But the publisher of Theodor Geisel (the famous and much-loved Dr Seuss) has taken a hand of its own and has withdrawn his early book (1937) And to Think that I Saw it on Mulberry Street, it is believed because of the portrayal of a Chinese character. Five other books were named but I do not know which they were.
It is not generally known that an English edition of Mulberry Street was published in 1939 by Country Life (not in Younger). In the same year Oxford University Press also published Doctor Seuss’s The Five Hundred Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins (also not in Younger).
The involvement of the London office of OUP in American Publishing at this time is of interest in that it suggests a development that was interrupted by the declaration of war in 1939. It would seem that Basil Blackwell and his Shakespeare Head Press were also involved for they published a famous American picture book which has never since been published in England: Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey 1944. It was set in Boston and is famous for its illustration of a policeman holding up the traffic for a family of ducklings to cross the street.
Brian Alderson is a long-time and much-valued contributor to Books for Keeps, founder of the Children’s Books History Society and a former Children’s Books Editor for The Times. His most recent book The 100 Best Children’s Books is published by Galileo Publishing, 978-1903385982, £14.99 hbk.
Biblio:
Doctor Seuss And To Think That I saw It On Mulberry Street. New York The Vanguard Press. London. Country Life 1939. Title Page. [page 2] Imprint [Page 3-4] Opening Verses. [Page 5-28] Verses and coloured illustrations. Binding: Illustrated paper over boards front and back. Colour Pictorial endpapers in blue. DJ as binding. Duplicate illustrated endpapers.
Robert McCloskey Make Way for Ducklings. Shakespeare Head Press. Oxford 1944. [1] Blank [2] Half Title [3] Announcement of Caldecott Medal [4] Title page as above. [5] Imprint [6] Additional half title [7-61 illustrations in sepia with text. Binding: Green cloth overboards with titling to front; front end papers with ducks hatching. Rear fixed end paper picture of island in park. No DJ.
Doctor Seuss The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins Sold
