"YOU MAY NOT BELIEVE IT, BUT HERE’S HOW IT HAPPENED…"

STONE, Rosetta. Because a Little Bug Went Ka-Choo! (New York): Beginner Books… Random House, (1975). Octavo, original glazed pictorial boards, pictorial endpapers. $2650.

First edition, first printing, of Dr. Seuss' first Beginner Book, his whimsical tale of chain reactions, the first and only Seuss book issued under the pseudonym of Rosetta Stone, with color illustrations by Michael Frith.

When Geisel and Frith collaborated on this "adaptation of the theme of 'because of the nail the shoe was lost," Frith "had a coauthor's pride in it, but Ted was not sure he wanted to grace it with his own name." And so "Rosetta Stone" was born. "The pseudonym was ridiculed by some librarians who said that Beginner Books was not taking children's books seriously. Ted saw this criticism as evidence of a deeper problem—that some librarians had an arrested sense of humor" (Morgan, 218). First printing with complete number code "1-0" on copyright page. As issued without dust jacket. Younger & Hirsch 4. Lindemann 48.0.

Interior fine, a bit of wear to top rear corner of bright pictorial boards. A nearly fine copy.