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Banned In Whoville!

n March 3, the Dr. Seuss estate announced that six books— – To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street. I checked eBay and re
And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street (1937) are still copies for sale at $500, $600, $2,000, $4,000, etc.
OMcElligot’s Pool (1947), If I Ran the Zoo (1950), Scrambled Bob said that there is a strong likelihood that the copies he sold will come
Eggs Super!, (1953), On Beyond Zebra!, (1955) and The Cat’s Quizzer back because he tells me that eBay has a 30-day return policy. He suspects
(1976)—would not be published any longer as they “portray people in that speculators are buying up every copy, and when the idiot market dies
ways that are hurtful and wrong.” off within a couple of days, all of those that didn’t sell for silly prices to retail
As we know, some books and movies of an earlier time can be customers will be returned for a full refund.
offensive to our modern sensibilities. But remember the Seuss books We had one call very early on with someone asking “Do you have any
were taken off the market by the publisher and not by any governmental Seuss books in stock?” I said no, she hung up. Clearly trying to vacuum up
or religious edict. cheap copies.
Personally, in the proper context, I think that with explanatory notes I think that you should write to eBay and say that my books should be
added these books could be banned, for being too dull.
used as a learning tool Let’s see if we can get a
demonstrating what people market bubble going.
did in former times, but – Ken
that’s just my opinion.
Often, it is just one illus- Dear Ken,
tration or passage in the I really don’t pay any
book that is deemed hurt- attention to this fad stuff
ful while the rest of it okay. when copies would
Oddly enough, this be selling for insane
notoriety sometimes prices online until the
makes them collectible. market collapsed when
They used to say that if a people realized that
book was banned in because these titles have
Boston, it was good for been in print for decades
sales. And may I say that they were not rare books
some of these now racially by any means except for
offensive books, antiques, the first editions, which
and vintage pieces are col- most of these copies
lected by black collectors certainly weren’t.
in an effort to preserve – Jim
history. And by that, I
mean black collectors of Dear Jim,
black material. Bob told me that there
The following email is from my friend Ken Callahan of Callahan are many bursts of interest in particular books, often for silly reasons, and
and Co. who specializes in hunting, fishing, and sporting books. that all of them are short-lived – sometimes only a week or two. The only
time that I really saw it in my area was a crazy spurt in people trying to buy
Dear Jim; a deer hunting book How To Bag The Biggest Buck Of Your Life by
Have you paid any attention to the nonsense about the six Seuss books Larry Benoit. I always sold this, hardbound or paperbound, for $20 or so.
that will no longer be published, having been deemed offensive and racist? Then, prices crept up and I had to pay more, so I was eventually charging
Suddenly there was a perceived shortage of them, and since they were $60-$75 for nice hardbound copies in dustwrappers. Then a Benoit cult
declared racist by the publishers, people seem to have assumed that they were seemed to form, articles were written, and I saw people asking as much as
going to be banned. Crappy worn-out reprint copies are being offered for $1,000 for the book, which was insane. I even had a guy call and when I
sale at stupid prices. didn’t have a copy he said that he would pay some silly figure—$400 or
My bookseller friend Bob had sold two of the six books to another book- $600, I don’t remember—for a copy. I said that if I had one I wouldn’t sell
seller, who has a space in a nice local shop. Bob sold them for $10 for the it to him because he would come back later and would be insulted when I
pair, bought them back for $50, and put them on eBay for $300 and $250. offered him a small fraction of what he had paid. That market did collapse,
Both sold within hours. He put another one that he owned on at $500 but and I just checked – the most I ever sold one for was a signed first edition
got it on too late, and there were 180 copies ahead of him, so it hadn’t sold. in its dustwrapper for $165. I have three copies in stock now, at $125 and
Then he got a message from eBay last night saying that he was banned from $150, but no buyers.
selling on the site (not sure if that is permanent) for selling an offensive book – Ken

James Dawson has owned and operated the Unicorn Bookshop in Trappe, MD since 1975, when he decided that it would be more fun to buy and sell old books and maps than to get
a “real” job. For a born collector like Jim, having a shop just might be another excuse to buy more books. He has about 30,000 second hand and rare books on the shelves, and just
about all subjects are represented. He can be contacted at P.O. Box 154; Trappe, MD 21673; 410-476-3838; unicornbookshopMD@gmail.com; www.unicornbookshop.com

46 Journal of Antiques and Collectibles