Hugh Lofting

The Voyages of Dr. Dolittle (Dodo Press) Hugh Lofting

Hugh John Lofting (1886-1947) was a British author, trained as a civil engineer, who created the character of Doctor Dolittle - one of the classics of children's literature. After serving in World War I, in which he was seriously wounded, he and his family moved to Connecticut in the U. S. A. Hugh Lofting's doctor from Puddleby-on-the- Marsh who could speak to animals first saw light in the author's illustrated letters to children, written from the trenches during World War I when actual news, he later said, was either too horrible or too dull. The stories are set in early Victorian England. The Story of Doctor Dolittle (1920) began the series. The sequel, The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle (1922), won Lofting the prestigious Newbery Medal. Eight more books followed, and after Lofting's death two more volumes, composed of short unpublished pieces, appeared. Porridge Poetry (1924) is the only non-Dolittle work by Lofting. It is a light-hearted, colourfully illustrated book of poems for children. Amongst his other works are Adventures of Doctor Dolittle (1922), Doctor Dolittle's Post Office (1923) and The Story of Mrs Tubbs (1923).