<P> Geisel supported himself and his wife through the Great Depression by drawing advertising for General Electric, NBC, Standard Oil, Narragansett Brewing Company, and many other companies . In 1935, he wrote and drew a short - lived comic strip called Hejji . </P> <P> The increased income allowed the Geisels to move to better quarters and to socialize in higher social circles . They became friends with the wealthy family of banker Frank A. Vanderlip . They also traveled extensively: by 1936, Geisel and his wife had visited 30 countries together . They did not have children, neither kept regular office hours, and they had ample money . Geisel also felt that the traveling helped his creativity . </P> <P> In 1936, the couple were returning from an ocean voyage to Europe when the rhythm of the ship's engines inspired the poem that became his first book: And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street . Based on Geisel's varied accounts, the book was rejected by between 20 and 43 publishers . According to Geisel, he was walking home to burn the manuscript when a chance encounter with an old Dartmouth classmate led to its publication by Vanguard Press . Geisel wrote four more books before the US entered World War II . This included The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins in 1938, as well as The King's Stilts and The Seven Lady Godivas in 1939, all of which were in prose, atypically for him . This was followed by Horton Hatches the Egg in 1940, in which Geisel returned to the use of poetry . </P> <P> Geisel gained a significant public profile through a program for motor boat lubricants produced by Standard Oil under the brand name Essomarine . He later recounted that Harry Bruno, Ted Cook, and Verne Carrier worked with him at the National Motor Boat Show on exhibits referred to as the Seuss Navy . </P>

When did dr seuss wrote his first book