Hugh Lofting (1886 – 1947)

Doolittle first appeared in Lofting's letters to his children which he wrote while serving in the British Army during the First World War. After the war he moved to Connecticut in the United States and began to publish the Doctor Doolittle stories, beginning with The Story of Doctor Dolittle: Being the History of His Peculiar Life at Home and Astonishing Adventures in Foreign Parts Never Before Printed (1920), and followed with 9 other Doolittle books published in his lifetime and 2 more post-humously. Lofting also wrote other books for young people and one for adults, Victory for the Slain (1942), a long poem that was published only in the United Kingdom.

The Story of Doctor Doolittle was first published in the United States, but it fell about of favor around the 1970s because of overtly racist material in the books. Recent reprints of the stories have added to the controversy because any mention of race or color is taken out, including a story in the book about a African Prince wishing to be turned white in order to marry 'Sleeping Beauty.'