You probably know the name John Dolittle. Even if you’ve never cracked a spine of the original novels, you’ve seen the face of Rex Harrison, Eddie Murphy, or Robert Downey Jr. shouting at a CGI ostrich. But the actual books by Hugh Lofting are a different beast entirely. They aren't just quirky tales about a vet who talks to dogs. They are artifacts of a very specific, often messy, slice of history.
Lofting didn't start as a writer. He was a civil engineer. Then World War I happened. While hunkered down in the trenches with the Irish Guards, he watched horses and mules being blown to bits by artillery. He realized that if a soldier was wounded, they got a hospital; if a horse was wounded, they got a bullet.
He couldn't tell his kids about the mud and the blood in his letters home. So, he invented a little man who could talk to the animals instead. That’s the "why" behind the magic. It was a coping mechanism for a man surrounded by carnage.
The Dolittle Chronology: Where to Start?
If you want to read the books by Hugh Lofting, don't just grab a random copy at a garage sale. You’ve gotta know what you’re looking at. The series officially kicked off in 1920 with The Story of Doctor Dolittle. It was an instant hit. People loved the idea of a guy who gave up his human practice because he preferred the company of a parrot named Polynesia.
The second book, The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle (1922), actually won the Newbery Medal. Honestly, it’s usually considered the best of the bunch. It’s longer, more cohesive, and introduces Tommy Stubbins, who basically becomes the reader's eyes in the world of Puddleby-on-the-Marsh.
Here is the basic rundown of the main titles:
- The Story of Doctor Dolittle (1920): The origin story. Africa, monkeys, and the Pushmi-Pullyu.
- The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle (1922): The Newbery winner. Spiders, floating islands, and high-seas adventure.
- Doctor Dolittle’s Post Office (1923): Dolittle establishes a mail service for birds. This one gets weirdly technical about logistics.
- Doctor Dolittle’s Circus (1924): He joins the circus to pay off debts. Focuses heavily on the Pushmi-Pullyu.
- Doctor Dolittle’s Zoo (1925): The Doctor creates a specialized animal town.
- Doctor Dolittle in the Moon (1928): Things go full sci-fi. He travels to the moon on a giant moth. No, really.
There are others—Caravan, Garden, and even posthumous releases like The Secret Lake (1948). Lofting’s son, Christopher, eventually helped manage the estate, which leads us to the elephant in the room. Or rather, the prince in the room.
The Controversy: Why Your New Copy Looks Different
If you buy a copy of The Story of Doctor Dolittle today, it’s likely the 1988 "Centenary Edition." Why? Because the original books by Hugh Lofting were deeply, undeniably racist in parts.
There was a specific plotline involving Prince Bumpo, an African character who wanted the Doctor to "bleach" his skin white so he could marry a princess. It was ugly. It reflected the colonialist mindset of a British man born in 1886. By the 1960s and 70s, librarians were pulling these books off the shelves. They weren't "canceled" by some modern woke mob; they were genuinely hurtful to a huge portion of the population.
In 1986, Christopher Lofting authorized massive revisions. They removed the slurs. They changed the Bumpo subplot. They swapped out illustrations that were basically caricatures.
Critics of "bowdlerization" hate this stuff. They think we should keep the original text and just "talk about it." But honestly? When you’re reading a bedtime story to a six-year-old, you don't necessarily want to pause for a lecture on 1920s racial dynamics. The revised versions allow the core message—empathy for all living things—to survive without the baggage.
More Than Just Talking Dogs
Lofting wasn't a one-trick pony. While the books by Hugh Lofting are 90% Dolittle, he did branch out.
- The Twilight of Magic (1930) is a straight-up fantasy for older kids.
- Porridge Poetry (1924) is a book of nonsensical rhymes.
- Victory for the Slain (1942) is his only work for adults. It’s a long, grim poem about the futility of war.
That poem is the key to understanding him. Lofting was a pacifist. He believed that if we could learn to communicate across species, maybe we could stop killing each other. It sounds naive, sure. But after seeing the trenches of 1917, you'd probably be a bit desperate for a gentler world too.
Getting Into the Lofting Library
If you’re looking to collect or read these, here is the smart way to do it:
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Check the copyright page. If you want the historical "warts and all" version, look for pre-1960 editions. If you want a book you can actually give to a child without cringing, stick to the post-1988 Dell Yearling or Puffin editions.
Don't skip the "Moon" books. The later books get more philosophical. Lofting started exploring ideas about plant life, longevity, and the nature of peace. Doctor Dolittle in the Moon and Doctor Dolittle’s Return are much more sophisticated than the early "animal-of-the-week" adventures.
Look at the art. Lofting illustrated almost all his own books. His style is simple, almost primitive, but it has a charm that none of the movie adaptations have ever quite captured.
The legacy of Hugh Lofting is complicated. He was a man of his time who tried to imagine a better one. His books are full of wonder, but they also carry the scars of the era they were written in. If you can navigate that, there’s a lot of heart to be found in Puddleby.
To start your collection correctly, prioritize finding a copy of The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle. It represents the peak of Lofting's storytelling and contains the most complete vision of his "internationalism" through the lens of animal languages. Check local used bookstores specifically for the 1988 revised paperbacks if you intend to read them with children today.