Dec 14, 2017 - Sale 2465

Sale 2465 - Lot 79

Price Realized: $ 21,250
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 8,000 - $ 12,000
DR. SEUSS [THEODOR GEISEL].
"A Great Gallumphing Galoot!" Original drawing with a personal inscription on endpaper facing the title-page of a later printing of "Dr. Seuss's ABC" (New York: Beginner Books/Random House, 1963). Pen and ink with wash. Image measures approximately 140x127 mm; 5 1/2x5 inches, on 9x6 1/2-inch page. Signed "Dr. Seuss." The inscription is Signed "Ted Geisel."

Additional Details

a magnificent original illustration of a grand seussian creature drawn by way of apology and amusement. The recipient, a very lucky boy named William, received the following inscription: "I want to start by telling you how very sorry I am that it has taken so long to get your book back to you. I'm hoping to have made it up to you (somewhat) with the added time and care that went into it. Good luck + best wishes / Ted Geisel."

The contentedly smiling, closed-lidded beast with tufted fur, resembling Seuss's llama-like creatures, is drawn in a richly inked circle of detailed cross hatching and shading. Seuss titled it "A Great Gallumphing Galoot!" in a dynamic spray of ink flying from the top left side of the circle and signed it "Dr. Seuss" along the lower right curve.

The inscription displays a wonderful connection between two masters of nonsensical verse. Seuss chose the adjective "gallumphing" (with an added "l") for his fanciful beast, a word first coined by his favorite muse, Lewis Carroll, in his famous poem
The Jabberwocky ("One, two! One, two! And through and through / The vorpal blade went snicker-snack! / He left it dead, and with its head / He went galumphing back"). A seemingly unique creation, we could find no other reference to William's new pet in other works by Seuss.