THE POKY LITTLE PUPPY by Lowrey, Janette Sebring; Tenggren, Gustaf - 1942

New York: Simon and Schuster, Inc, 1942. Very good plus in like dust jacket.. Rare first edition in original jacket of the all-time bestselling hardcover children's book, one of the first 12 Little Golden Books. A combination of color, durability, and affordability drove the publication of the first series of 12 Little Golden Books in 1942. But their success was at first uncertain: Steve Santi describes how librarians felt that the series was not "the quality literature that a child should be reading." Parents, however, felt differently; at 25¢, the Little Golden Books were the cheapest and most attractive children's books available at the time, and 1.5 million copies were printed in five months to meet the demand.
"Prior to World War II, large format classic storybooks for children were prohibitively expensive and available only to a privileged few," the Smithsonian American History Museum notes; books like THE POKY LITTLE PUPPY "revolutionized" the way American families used books by putting the act of reading, literally and figuratively, in the hands of children. Little readers could now take the initiative in using their books, without worry of bringing financial hardship upon their parents.
While the content of POKY does not allude to the global conflict that surely occupied the minds of parents in 1942, the jacket does: the rear flap contains an advertisement for war saving stamps and bonds, declaring that "all five little puppies buy War Stamps every week. So should you." Thanks to the voracious consumption of these books, they rarely retain their original dust jackets. This copy is a terrific survival in the jacket. 8'' x 6.75''. Original cloth-backed color pictorial boards. Original color pictorial dust jacket, unclipped (25¢). Illustrated in color and black and white. [42] pages. Light edgewear to jacket, with 1" closed tear and small chip to lower spine. Light edgewear to boards; some erased pencil marks to last page. Colors vibrant.