Green Eggs and Ham 50th Anniversary
- Artist: Dr. Seuss
- Medium: Hand Pulled Serigraph on Paper
- Size: 26" W × 55" H
- Opening Price: Please Inquire
Dear Dr. Seuss Dealers and Collectors,
50th Anniversary Green Eggs & Ham
Green Eggs and Ham, the critically acclaimed 1960 book was born out of a $50 wager between Ted and his publisher, Bennett Cerf, who bet he couldn’t write an articulate, entertaining book using only fifty different words. The result was a 62-page volume composed of 49 monosyllabic words – the words used most included “not” (eighty-two times) and ldquo;I” (eighty-one times) – and a fiftieth three syllable word “anywhere,” which Ted called upon just eight times to complete this legendary masterpiece. When Bennett Cerf heard Ted’s first reading of the book, he seemed dazed, shaking his head over the clear triumph of Green Eggs and Ham, which had begun as their private joke. He made a ceremony of conceding Ted his fifty-dollar bet, but Ted’s recollection was that Cerf never paid. Ted Geisel’s stunning accomplishment on Green Eggs and Ham contributed to Bennett Cerf’s conclusion that of the many distinguished authors published by Random House – including American playwright Eugene O’Neill and novelist William Faulkner – Dr. Seuss, alone among them, was a genius. In May of 1960, the New York Times listed best-selling children’s books for that year; five of the top sixteen were by Dr. Seuss. Booksellers could not remember when a single author had so dominated the market. In the year 2000, Publisher’s Weekly ranked Green Eggs and Ham the fourth bestselling English-language children’s book of all time and the National Education Association’s survey of children and teachers ranked it third in their 100 most popular books. Now, on the eve of this book’s Golden Anniversary, we proudly announce a special fiftieth anniversary print commemorating Green Eggs and Ham’s vital impact on the worlds of pop and literary culture.
Best regards,
Bill Dreyer
Curator, Art of Dr. Seuss Collection
