And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street was published by Vanguard Press in 1937, after being rejected by twenty-seven publishers (Seuss kept count). The twenty-eighth publisher, Marshall McClintock of Vanguard — whom Seuss encountered by chance on Madison Avenue — accepted it, and American children’s literature was permanently altered. The book introduced the visual style, the rhythmic verse, and the anarchic imagination that would define Seuss’s career for the next fifty-four years.
The Book
Marco walks home from school along Mulberry Street, having been told by his father to keep his eyes open and report what he sees. He sees a horse and wagon. Boring. His imagination begins to work: the horse becomes a zebra, the wagon becomes a chariot, the chariot gains a brass band, the brass band acquires an escort of motorcycle cops, a man who pours confetti, an airplane towing a banner, and finally an enormous civic spectacle involving an elephant, a magician, and the Mayor himself. When Marco reaches home and his father asks what he saw, Marco deflates: “Nothing… but a plain horse and wagon on Mulberry Street.”
The book’s structure — a linear escalation, each page adding one element of absurdity to the previous page — became a Seuss signature. The rhythm is anapestic tetrameter (da-da-DUM da-da-DUM da-da-DUM da-da-DUM), borrowed from comic verse traditions but made entirely Seuss’s own through his distinctive use of proper names and invented words.
Themes
Imagination — the book celebrates the child’s ability to transform the mundane into the spectacular. Marco’s imagination is not pathological; it is creative, sequential, and ultimately under his control (he chooses not to lie to his father).
Truth and storytelling — Marco’s dilemma is a storyteller’s dilemma: the truth is boring; the embellished version is wonderful; but claiming the embellished version is true would be lying. Seuss navigates this without resolving it — Marco tells the truth, but the reader has experienced the fantasy.
Publication and Controversy
The book was pulled from publication by Dr. Seuss Enterprises in March 2021, along with five other Seuss titles, for imagery considered racially insensitive by contemporary standards — specifically, a depiction of a Chinese man with a queue, chopsticks, and slanted eyes. The withdrawal dramatically increased the value of existing copies and sparked intense public debate about cultural sensitivity, historical context, and censorship.
Collecting And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street
First edition (Vanguard Press, New York, 1937): Pictorial boards. First issue has Vanguard imprint on title page and spine.
Market values:
- First edition, fine condition: $15,000–$40,000
- Good condition: $3,000–$8,000
- Later printings (pre-withdrawal): $50–$200
- Post-withdrawal: all editions have increased 200-400% since March 2021
As Seuss’s first book and a withdrawn title, this has become one of the most sought-after items in American children’s book collecting.