Hardback

Yertle the Turtle (1963)

Publisher Collins Year 1963

Identification points are listed only where two independent sources agree. Last reviewed 29 Oct 2026.

Market value

What decides the price

  • It is the first UK edition; the true first was published elsewhere.
  • The original dust jacket carries much of the price for a book of this age; its condition matters as much as the book's.
  • Condition is graded separately for book and jacket, from Fine down to Poor.

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Sales record

No sales recorded yet

We value a printing from verified sales of that exact printing, and none of the first impression has come to auction in our records so far. The chart and the value by condition appear here as soon as one does.

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In short

Quick answer

Who published the Yertle the Turtle 1963 hardback?
Collins, United Kingdom, in 1963, in hardback.
Identification

How to identify this edition

The book first appeared in America (Random House, New York, 1958) as Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories, collecting the title story with Gertrude McFuzz and The Big Brag. The first British edition is the Collins, London issue of 1963, a large-format book in pictorial boards; two dealers offering it as the first British or first UK edition give Collins, London, 1963 in the imprint. Check for the Collins imprint and 1963 date with no later printing noted. A Random House copy is the American first, not the British one.

Publisher's practice

How Collins marked its first editions

  • Collins did not adopt any special method of marking first editions or first impressions, according to its statements to H. S. Boutell.
  • Collins said that when it issued a cheaper edition, the reverse of the title page recorded the date of the original edition and that of the cheap edition.

Read the full guide to Collins first editions, decade by decade, and check your copy's copyright page against it. Our number line decoder reads the printing from the row of numbers.

Printing by printing

Printings and states

First impression

1963

At a glance

Not yet researched

We have not yet confirmed the issue points that tell this first impression from later ones. Until we do, compare your copy's title page and copyright page with the publisher, place and year above: any later printing or edition statement means it is not this one.

Know the points? Tell us. We publish them, with credit, once a second source agrees.

Questions collectors ask

Frequently asked questions

Who published the Yertle the Turtle 1963 hardback?

Collins, United Kingdom, in 1963, in hardback.

Sources

Where these facts come from

  • Dr. Seuss, Yertle The Turtle and Other Stories, First UK Edition 1963, John Atkinson Books (johnatkinsonbooks.co.uk)
  • Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories (London, Collins, 1963, first British edition), Antiquariaat Digitalis via AbeBooks (abebooks.com)
  • Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories (Random House, New York, 1958, first edition), Raptis Rare Books via AbeBooks (abebooks.co.uk)

Points of issue are listed only where at least two independent sources agree. Last reviewed 29 October 2026. Reviewed by Harriet Ellis; read how we check facts.