We Looked! Then We Saw Him Step On The Mat!

More than 1.7 million copies of the book in which the anarchic cat made his debut have been sold in Britain over the past 20 years. Jammed full of jazz rhythms and rhymes, in 1957 it was so utterly unlike anything else around that the author (also known as Theodor Geisel) struggled to get it published. After 27 separate attempts he was on the point of giving up. ‘He was going to toss the book into the nearest wastepaper basket,’ said Audrey Geisel, Theodor’s 85-year-old widow.

Like Norman Rockwell, Seuss personally created every rough sketch, preliminary drawing, final line drawing and finished work for each page of every project he illustrated.

Despite the technical and budgetary limitations of color printing during the early and mid-twentieth century, Dr. Seuss the artist was meticulous about color selection. He created specially numbered color charts and elaborate color call-outs to precisely accomplish his vision for each book. Saturated reds and blues, for example, were carefully chosen for The Cat in the Hat to attract and maintain the visual attention of a six-year-old audience.

By the time Seuss’s book career took off, sharp draftsman skills were evident in drawings. His ability to move a storyline ahead via illustrations filled with tension, movement and color became a hallmark component of his work, and the surreal images that unfolded over six decades became the catalyst for a humorous and inspired learning experience.