_THE STORY OF DOCTOR DOLITTLE_ [Illustration: “A little town called Puddleby-on-the-Marsh”] THE _Story of_ DOCTOR DOLITTLE _BEING THE HISTORY OF HIS PECULIAR LIFE AT HOME AND ASTONISHING ADVENTURES IN FOREIGN PARTS. NEVER BEFORE PRINTED._ _TOLD BY HUGH LOFTING_ _ILLUSTRATED BY THE AUTHOR_ [Illustration] _Published by FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY at 443 FOURTH AVENUE, NEW YORK._ _A.D. 1920_ WITH AN INTRODUCTION TO THE TENTH PRINTING BY HUGH WALPOLE _Copyright, 1920, by_ FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY _All rights reserved, including that of translation into foreign languages_ First Printing, Aug. 24, 1920 Second Printing, Dec. 17, 1920 Third Printing, April 16, 1921 Fourth Printing, July 7, 1921 Fifth Printing, Sept. 1, 1921 Sixth Printing, Oct. 26, 1921 Seventh Printing, Dec. 5, 1921 Eighth Printing, April 3, 1922 Ninth Printing, Aug. 18, 1922 Tenth Printing, Nov. 28, 1922 Eleventh Printing, April 2, 1923 PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA TO ALL CHILDREN CHILDREN IN YEARS AND CHILDREN IN HEART I DEDICATE THIS STORY _INTRODUCTION TO THE TENTH PRINTING_ THERE are some of us now reaching middle age who discover themselves to be lamenting the past in one respect if in none other, that there are no books written now for children comparable with those of thirty years ago. I say written _for_ children because the new psychological business of writing _about_ them as though they were small pills or hatched in some especially scientific method is extremely popular to-day. Writing for children rather than about them is very difficult as everybody who has tried it knows. It can only be done, I am convinced, by somebody having a great deal of the child in his own outlook and sensibilities. Such was the author of “The Little Duke” and “The Dove in the Eagle’s Nest,” such the author of “A Flatiron for a Farthing,” and “The Story of a Short Life.” Such, above all, the author of “Alice in Wonderland.” Grownups imagine that they can do the trick by adopting baby language and talking down to their very critical audience. There never was a greater mistake. The imagination of the author must be a child’s imagination and yet maturely consistent, so that the White Queen in “Alice,” for instance, is seen just as a child would see her, but she continues always herself through all her distressing adventures. The supreme touch of the white rabbit pulling on his white gloves as he hastens is again absolutely the child’s vision, but the white rabbit as guide and introducer of Alice’s adventures belongs to mature grown insight.