Historic Americana
First Edition Book "A Fish Out of Water" by (Dr. Seuss)
1961-Dated Hardcover Book, "A Fish Out of Water," by Helen Palmer, Random House, Near Fine.
What makes this particular book interesting, uniquely valuable is that its author, Helen Palmer, (not signed) was the first wife of Dr. Seuss Himself (Theodor Seuss Geisel). "A Fish out of Water" is a 1961 American children's book written by Helen Palmer Geisel (credited as Helen Palmer) and illustrated by P. D. Eastman. The book is based on a short story by Palmer's husband Theodor Geisel (Dr. Seuss), "Gustav, the Goldfish", which was published with his own illustrations in Redbook magazine in June 1950. Seuss relied heavily on Helen's support, encouragement, and editorial input throughout their lives together. Tragically, Helen became ill with cancer and committed suicide in 1967.



The book is in fine condition, with the mildest of wear to edges being the only potential defect. Clean and glossy on the outside, unmarked on the inside. The dust jacket is just about as fine. It's an original, as evinced by the 195/195 on the front flap, and the fact that "A Fish Out of Water" appears third from the bottom on the back cover's beginner books list.
Theodor Seuss Geisel was an American author, political cartoonist, poet, animator, book publisher, and artist, best known for authoring children's books under the pen name Dr. Seuss.



"Gustav, the Goldfish", the short story that served as the basis for this book, was written and illustrated by Dr. Seuss and published in the June 1950 edition of Redbook magazine as the first installment in his series of children's stories for Redbook. This story has much in common with A Fish Out of Water, including its plot and characters. However, the goldfish's name is Gustav instead of Otto, and the pet shop owner's name is Mr. VanBuss instead of Mr. Carp. The original story was collected, along with six other Dr. Seuss stories originally published in magazines, in the 2011 collection The Bippolo Seed and Other Lost Stories.



In 1959, in a letter to his wife, he gave her formal permission to write a book for the Beginner Books series based on his original story, writing, "You have the right to use any of the situations or any of the words from the original story that your little heart desires. You must, however, comply with all necessary steps in protecting my original copyright."



Palmer's work involved, in part, rewriting and simplifying the original text to comply with Beginner Books' policies. She finished A Fish Out of Water in 1961, at the Hotel Madison in New York City where she and her husband were staying for six weeks while their home in La Jolla, California, was being remodeled. She had apparently been working at it steadily, as she jokingly described this last revision as "the 9,373th version" of the book.