Seuss Munro Leaf (2 results)

Stapled wraps. Condition: Very Good+. Illustrated by Dr. Seuss (illustrator). Trade Edition. Color Illustrations; This is a small format booklet (5.25" x 4.25", with 32 unnumbered pages) with illustrated cardstock covers and one staple to the spine. The booklet is in Very Good+ to Near Fine- condition and was issued without a dust jacket. The book is in mostly clean, bright condition. There are three small strips of discoloration to the front cover by the foredge, along with a couple of small spots of ground-in dirt to the rear covers. The text pages are clean and bright. This copy has the code: 1944 - O -565454 on the bottom edge of the rear cover - making this a later state / issue than the ones listed in Younger & Hirsch, though it bears some markers of the first edition, with the single staple to the spine and the variant C illustration to the inside rear cover. "One of the greatest threats to the health and safety of U. S. Soldiers was malaria. Malaria is far less common in the United States than it is in the South Pacific, where many soldiers were stationed. These soldiers had not built immunity to the illness, and many did not know how to prevent infection. Furthermore, Germany had blocked the Allies' supply of quinine (the most effective antimalarial drug of that time). The United States Antimalarial Program was trying to create a new antimalarial drug, but they did not have one yet and soldiers were dying. In response, the secretary of war ordered a public health brochure explaining malaria and malaria prevention. Geisel was assigned to the project along with Munro Leaf, another children's book writer in the animation department of the first motion picture unit. Geisel and Leaf were not scientists, but they were working with information provided to them from scientists. Geisel was concerned that if the materials were dry and boring, soldiers would not read them. The materials needed to convey scientific information and convince people to change their behavior, and they needed to do it in an entertaining way. It was a matter of life and death. " (from the Huntington Library website).

5.25.x 4.25 inches. 32 pages. Pictorial wrappers, stapled. A SCARCE EARLY WORK BY DR. SEUSS. First edition, first inner rear wrapper variant reading "U.S. Government Printing Office: 1943 543637". This copy, with two staples, is considered the earliest. During World War II, Theodore Geisel took a hiatus from writing children's books (his first, from 1937, was 'And to Think That I Saw it on Mulberry Street'). Having previously been a commercial illustrator, Geisel worked during these years as a political cartoonist, and worked in the animation and film department of the United States Army. 'This is Ann,' a cautionary tale about malaria rendered in characteristic Seussian style, stems from this early period, before Geisel's emergence as one of the greatest children's book author/illustrators of the 20th century. Younger 78. In unusually fresh condition, the wrappers with slightest of toning and a few tiny spots, the staples lightly rusted.