E H Palmer

Helen Marion Palmer Geisel, professionally known as Helen Palmer, was an American author, editor, and philanthropist active in the mid-20th century. Born in 1898, she pursued higher education at Wellesley College and later attended Oxford University, where she met her future husband, Theodor Seuss Geisel (Dr. Seuss). Palmer significantly influenced her husband's career, encouraging him to pursue illustration. She was married to Geisel from 1927 until her death in 1967. Together, they co-founded Beginner Books in 1958. Palmer also contributed to the Academy Award-winning documentary 'Design for Death' with her husband. Due to medical conditions, she was unable to have children. After a prolonged period of illness, she died by suicide in October 1967.

Born in 1898 in New York City, Helen Palmer spent her formative years in Brooklyn. She overcame childhood polio and experienced the early loss of her father. Palmer excelled academically, graduating with honors from Wellesley College in 1920. She then dedicated three years to teaching English before relocating to England with her mother to attend Oxford University. It was at Oxford that she met Theodor Seuss Geisel. Palmer played a pivotal role in shaping Geisel's artistic path, advocating for his talent as an illustrator rather than an academic. Their marriage took place in 1927.

Following World War II, Helen Palmer collaborated with her husband on the documentary 'Design for Death,' which received an Academy Award. For the subsequent decade, she served as a crucial editor and source of support for Dr. Seuss's prolific children's books, often working uncredited. In 1958, she, along with Theodor Geisel and Phyllis Cerf, established Beginner Books, a venture that achieved significant success. Palmer contributed four of her own well-known titles to the Beginner Books imprint: 'A Fish Out of Water,' 'I Was Kissed by a Seal at the Zoo,' 'Do You Know What I'm Going to Do Next Saturday?,' and 'Why I Built the Boogle House.'

Palmer's later years were marked by a severe and prolonged illness that spanned thirteen years. This period of suffering culminated in her death by suicide on October 23, 1967, due to an overdose of barbiturates. Her suicide note expressed deep love for her husband and a sense of overwhelming despair and self-perceived failure. The circumstances of her death and her husband's subsequent actions and reflections highlight the profound impact she had on his life and work.

“Ted's notebooks were always filled with these fabulous animals. So I set to work diverting him; here was a man who could draw such pictures; he should be earning a living doing that.”

“Dear Ted, What has happened to us? I don't know. I feel myself in a spiral, going down down down, into a black hole from which there is no escape, no brightness. And loud in my ears from every side I hear, "failure, failure, failure..." I love you so much ... I am too old and enmeshed in everything you do and are, that I cannot conceive of life without you ... My going will leave quite a rumor but you can say I was overworked and overwrought. Your reputation with your friends and fans will not be harmed ... Sometimes, think of the fun we had all thru the years ...”

“I didn't know whether to kill myself, burn the house down, or just go away and get lost.”

“Whatever Helen did, she did it out of absolute love for Ted.”

“her last and greatest gift to him.”