Resale of Dr Seuss books scrapped by publisher for racist imagery halted by eBay

Major retailers such as Barnes & Noble have already withdrawn the books from sale

Credit: Brendan McDermid/Reuters

eBay will ban users from selling six Dr Seuss books continuing racist imagery that were withdrawn from publication by the late author’s estate on March 2. 

“eBay is currently sweeping our marketplace to remove these items,” a spokeswoman for the American auction website told The Wall Street Journal. 

While some listings remained on Thursday morning, the spokeswoman said that it would take some time to review all listings and that the company was monitoring those newly published.

Copies of the books, which include ‘If I Ran the Zoo’ and Dr Seuss’s first publication ‘And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street’, had started to sell for hundreds of pounds on eBay after major retailers had withdrawn them from sale. 

A 1955 edition of ‘On Beyond Zebra!’, another of the discontinued books, had reached a price $670 USD (£485) on eBay’s US site by Tuesday afternoon, reported the New York Post, less than a day after it was put up for auction at a starting price of just $14.99 USD.

Dr. Seuss' book 'And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street' 

Credit: Christopher Dolan /The Times-Tribune 

‘If I Ran the Zoo’ includes an illustration of “two men from Africa” carrying animals and wearing grass skirts.

Another image, this time in ‘And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street’, shows a “Chinese man” with two lines for eyes and chopsticks. 

Dr Seuss Enterprises, the company that preserves and protects the author’s legacy, said the six books, which also include ‘McElligot’s Pool’,  ‘Scrambled Eggs Super!’ and ‘The Cat’s Quizzer’, would be removed from publication because they contained racist depictions.

"Ceasing sales of these books is only part of our commitment and our broader plan to ensure Dr Seuss Enterprises’ catalog represents and supports all communities and families," the estate said in a statement.

Dr Seuss’s books have remained extremely popular

Credit: Science History Images / Alamy Stock Photo 

“I think it’s ridiculous that they cancelled Dr. Seuss when they have the books ‘Huck Finn’ and ‘Moby Dick’ with Queequeg,” one book dealer told the New York Post, referring to the fictional South Seas cannibal in Herman Melville’s novel.

The dealer, known as Chizad, said that eBay had removed his listing of ‘And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street’  because it breached the company’s offensive material policy.

While Dr Seuss’s books have remained extremely popular, the depiction of Black, Asian and other characters in his books has drawn increasing criticism.

President Joe Biden broke with tradition this year by not mentioning Dr Seuss during Read Across America Day, while school districts across the US have begun moving away from the books.