With The Cat in the Hat, Dr. Seuss’s publisher, Random House's Bennett Cerf had a sensation on his hands. Cerf’s wife, Phyllis, was so taken by the book that she convinced her husband to start a division devoted to revolutionary readers. Beginner Books was born, with Seuss at the helm. During their years together, on the wall above Phyllis’ desk was a needlepoint of The Cat in the Hat she had stitched with this inscription: This cat started a publishing house. No other cat can make this claim.
Perhaps the defining book of Ted Geisel’s colossal 50-year career, The Cat in the Hat is his most iconic and best-known image. In the decades since, Dr. Seuss has become the definitive children’s literacy author of all time (over 600,000,000 books sold) and Ted’s Cat continues to “step out,” enjoying his rightful legacy as the visual icon of our literary past, present, and future.
We proudly announce the authorized estate edition, The Cat That Changed the World, adapted from Ted Geisel’s original concept drawing, permanently housed at the Mandeville Special Collections Library, located within the Geisel Library at the University of California, San Diego.