<P> Geisel variously stated that the book took between nine and 18 months to create . Donald Pease notes that he worked on it primarily alone, unlike with previous books, which had been more collaborative efforts between Geisel and his wife, Helen . This marked a general trend in his work and life . As Robert L. Bernstein later said of that period, "The more I saw of him, the more he liked being in that room and creating all by himself ." Pease points to Helen's recovery from Guillain--Barré syndrome, which she was diagnosed with in 1954, as the marker for this change . </P> <P> Geisel agreed to write The Cat in the Hat at the request of William Spaulding of Houghton Mifflin; however, because Geisel was under contract with Random House, the head of Random House, Bennett Cerf, made a deal with Houghton Mifflin . Random House retained the rights to trade sales, which encompassed copies of the book sold at book stores, while Houghton Mifflin retained the education rights, which encompassed copies sold to schools . </P> <P> The Houghton Mifflin edition was released in January or February 1957, and the Random House edition was released on March 1 . The two editions featured different covers but were otherwise identical . The first edition can be identified by the "200 / 200" mark in the top right corner of the front dust jacket flap, signifying the $2.00 selling price . The price was reduced to $1.95 on later editions . </P> <P> According to Judith and Neil Morgan, the book sold well immediately . The trade edition initially sold an average of 12,000 copies a month, a figure which rose rapidly . Bullock's department store in Los Angeles, California, sold out of its first, 100 - copy order of the book in a day and quickly reordered 250 more . The Morgans attribute these sales numbers to "playground word - of - mouth", asserting that children heard about the book from their friends and nagged their parents to buy it for them . However, Houghton Mifflin's school edition did not sell as well . As Geisel noted in Jonathan Cott's 1983 profile of him, "Houghton Mifflin...had trouble selling it to the schools; there were a lot of Dick and Jane devotees, and my book was considered too fresh and irreverent . But Bennett Cerf at Random House had asked for trade rights, and it just took off in the bookstores ." Geisel told the Morgans, "Parents understood better than school people the necessity for this kind of reader ." </P>

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