- Dr. Seuss’s widow finds lost manuscripts belonging to her late husband 6 years ago.
- One of them has just become a new release; ‘Dr. Seuss’s Horse Museum’ about art history.
- Buy the book now!
Did you know that there is a guide to art history by Dr. Seuss that was never published? Dr. Seuss’s Horse Museum is likely the last book that the children’s author wrote before his death in 1991. The new guide to art history teaches us about ancient Chinese art, the Italian Renaissance, and modernism. Our guide is a talking horse!
Dr. Seuss, who was born Theodor Seuss Geisel, had his manuscripts, sketches, letters, and other professional artifacts donated to the University of California. However, just 6 years ago, Geisel’s widow Audrey came across this unreleased book and other lost manuscripts.
Dr. Seuss, a beloved children’s author even today
Continuing, Audrey began a close relationship with publisher Beginner Books. The publisher would then take on these lost manuscripts that Audrey had discovered so many years after her husband’s death. The first of the two manuscripts that Audrey finds ends up being published in 2015, called What Pet Should I Get?. It quickly becomes a New York Times bestseller.
While there were no official dates attached to these manuscripts, Beginner Books believes they could have been written in the mid-1950s.
Reports speculate this piece begins just before ‘The Cat in the Hat’
“I think Ted was probably more interested in art than most people realize,” says Beginner Books’ then-president, Cathy Goldsmith. “But I really think that, while the book is about art, it’s also about creativity of any kind. He was trying to give people permission to realize that their personal vision is their personal vision and there’s no right or wrong about it.”
According to reports, the manuscript for Dr. Seuss’s Horse Museum was unfinished. Moreover, they don’t know why it wasn’t ever completed. The publisher thinks that non-fiction text on art history may not have been a great seller at the time. Additionally, if this piece began in the mid-1950s, it would have come just before The Cat in the Hat, which catapults Geisel to literary stardom.
Dr. Seuss’s work is still legendary many years later
Geisel was very into his art and his craft. Whether it is paintings, drawings, and paper-mache sculptures, Geisel loves doing it all. In 2017, a museum dedicated to his work opens in his hometown of Springfield, MA. Goldsmith (mentioned earlier) is one of the last people in the industry to work with ‘Dr. Seuss’ directly.
“I always think of Ted as being, on one hand, a teacher, but on the other hand, a slightly anarchic friend who likes to take you on a little journey to someplace you’ve not been before. I think we all felt the potential in this project from the time we first looked at what we found in the box,” she says.
Dr. Seuss’s Horse Museum is available now! Click this link to purchase his new book.