There exists a book titled "Skippy" - written and illustrated by Percy Crosby. It was published by 
G.P. Putnam's and Sons in 1929 via The Knickerbocker Press, and also in the same year picked up and  printed by the reprint house Grosset & Dunlap.

Very frequently, the copyright pages of both the Putnam's and Grosset & Dunlap editions state, "Second  Printing before Publication" because the "original" Putnam edition had an edition printed in this manner -  probably as a result of the book being chosen for reprinting by Grosset & Dunlap. It short, more copies of  the book were needed.

As some of you may know, reprint houses such as Grosset & Dunlap in those days often simply used the  same printing plates when they reprinted the original editions.

The "INSCRIPTION" in the book reads, "For Corey Ford - he's 'Sooky' to me." (Sooky is a character in  the book.)

Percy Crosby's daughter has addressed this "signed inscription" issue. What follows is a paraphased 
communication from Percy Crosby's daughter:

My father, Percy Crosby, was a close friend of well-known author Corey Ford, and Corey was a big fan of  "Skippy" when my father inscribed his "Skippy" novel to him in 1929.  He wrote the novel while in  Freedom, New Hampshire, where Corey then lived (or had a vacation home).  Corey was also best man  at my parents' wedding in April, 1929. My father's signed inscription in the novel to Corey is not the  original, as it was reproduced in all copies when published.  I presume that Corey Ford had the original  one before it went to the printer.

Percy Leo Crosby (December 8, 1891 - December 8, 1964) is best known for his 1923 to 1945 comic strip Skippy, a popular and acclaimed feature adapted into movies, a novel, and a radio show, and commemorated on a 1997 U.S. Postal Service stamp.

Critic and author Corey Ford in Vanity Fair magazine contemporaneously called the strip "America's most important contribution to humor of the century".

Skippy started in 1923 as a cartoon in Life magazine, and became a syndicated comic strip two years later, through King Features Syndicate. Crosby retained the copyright, a rarity for comic-strip artists of the time.

The strip was enormously popular, at one point guaranteeing Crosby $2,350 a week, an enormous sum at the time. Crosby published a Skippy novel and other books; there were Skippy dolls, toys, and comic books; and the comic was adapted as a movie by Paramount. A hit, it won director Norman Taurog the Academy Award for Best Director, and boosted the career of young star Jackie Cooper.

From 1928 to 1937, Crosby produced 3,650 Skippy strips, ten books of fiction, political and philosophical essays, drawings, and cartoons, as well as numerous pamphlets, while also mounting a dozen exhibitions in New York City, Washington, D.C., London, Paris, and Rome of his oils, watercolors, and other paintings and drawings.

His final years were tragic; unable to find steady work, he drifted into alcoholism. In December 1948, after the death of his mother, he was committed to the psychiatric ward of Bellevue Hospital for a suicide attempt. In January 1949, he was transferred to the mental ward at Kings Park Veterans' Hospital, in Kings Park, New York, where he was declared a paranoid schizophrenic, and spent the last 16 years of his life.

In 1964, after a heart attack that had left him in a coma for months, Crosby died in the asylum on his 73rd birthday.

NOW IT GETS WORSE:

FROM SKIPPY DOT COM

Although he made a profound impression with millions of Americans, primarily through Skippy, the loveable and mischievous cartoon character who became a household word, Percy Crosby was unable to prevent retaliation by those who coveted control of Skippy for their commercial gain, and wanted him silenced.

Percy Crosby was falsely imprisoned in a New York mental hospital for the last 16 years of his life, following years of harassment by the IRS. He referred to this period of his life as a "political witch hunt".

During this time, Crosby's famous Skippy trademark and its valuable goodwill was pirated by a bankrupt peanut butter company, which later merged with a Fortune 500 company, making a fortune in illicit sales under the Skippy brand name.

Lord, Day & Lord, then a prestigious Wall Street firm, valued Crosby's estate in early 1932 in excess of $3 million dollars, and advised Crosby to incorporate under his famous Skippy trade name to protect the "immense good will" he had created, from unauthorized uses. Skippy, Inc. was incorporated in Delaware on May 11,1932, and Lord, Day & Lord partners became Skippy officers, directors, the named incorporators, and trustee for Crosby's infant children.

Dale Crosby, secretary of Skippy, Inc. and a stockholder, advised Lord, Day & Lord in April 1934 that the IRS was asking a lot of questions about Skippy's business.

In 1939 his wife filed for divorce and took custody of the four young Crosby children. The bitter divorce proceedings were publicized to portray the creator of Skippy as selfish and cruel. The children never saw their father again. Crosby moved to New York City, began drinking heavily, and was hospitalized in 1940 for severe stress.

On or about December 16,1948 Crosby allegedly slashed his wrists and stabbed himself in the chest at his New York apartment. It was reported on national radio news that the famous creator of Skippy had attempted suicide, and was taken to Bellevue hospital. Interestingly, a small news article reported that the police found no evidence of the weapon used.

Crosby was transferred to Kings Park hospital for the mentally ill, and adjudicated incompetent by the New York Supreme Court in January, 1949, without a hearing or counsel to defend him. His written pleas for his release fell on deaf ears.

In March, 1949 New York's attorney general petitioned the court at the request of the U.S. Treasury to appoint a "committee" for Percy Crosby, stating that "time is of the essence to settle an outstanding tax lien." Crosby's wife, Carolyn Soper (whose uncle, psychologist Dr. Henry Soper, signed Crosby's commitment papers) was appointed Crosby's committee. Her attorney, Rose Lehman Stein, (discovered after Crosby's death to be an agent for Rosefield), settled the IRS claim against Crosby and Skippy, Inc. for $25,000. Justice Department records (IRS) referred to Percy Crosby as "demented", and noted that the purpose of the tax claim was to "liquidate Skippy, Inc.". The Justice Department official who settled the matter was Theron Lamar Caudle. Caudle was later fired by president Truman during IRS corruption hearings, referred to as the Caudle "scandal". Percy Crosby's career as a celebrity American artist, known as the "Rembrandt of American cartoonists", and crusader for freedom from tyranny and oppression, was now silenced. He had been stripped of all his legal rights to protect his property and the valuable Skippy assets, and had become a ward of New York State, his person and property now in the custodial protection of the state Supreme Court. Attorney Stein told the Court that Crosby was too "dangerous" to release, and "forever litigious against high government officials".

Throughout his years in confinement, Crosby wrote thousands of memos and tried to seek help from the outside world to gain his release, including letters to the National Press Club, to publishers and a plea to Erwin Griswold, Harvard Law School Dean. Letters to his children and others were censored, and Crosby was led to believe that his children had been college educated with the royalties from Skippy peanut butter, and turned against him.

In 1954, Rosefield sold its Skippy business to Best Foods, Inc. for $7.5 million, Jerome Rosefield became a Best Foods officer, director and head of the Skippy division, which bought corn syrup (dextrose) from Corn Products Refining Co.(CPC), a major client of Lord, Day & Lord. In 1958, Brownell rejoined the firm, after resigning as Attorney General. Several months later CPC merged with Best Foods and Lord Day & Lord served as CPC's primary counsel. Clearly, it was not in Brownell's or the firm's interest to advise the New York Supreme Court that their former client had outstanding legal claims for the theft of the valuable Skippy name and business. Crosby was never aware of these transactions and the conspiracy by his lawyers and court-appointed "committee" to sell Skippy on the New York Stock Exchange as a legitimate business.

Crosby was deprived of the expensive art material to which he was accustomed as a free man, but kept his sanity by drawing pictures and cartoons. He had to use cheap paper, and hospital adhesive tape to mat his art and correct his manuscripts, keeping his work locked in a trunk with keys kept on a shoestring around his neck to protect his work from theft and vandalism. The artist, who had captivated millions of people with his humor and extraordinary skills with the pen and brush, refused to accept defeat.

In June, 1964 he wrote his last memo to a hospital nurse about the "Skippy steal", and shortly thereafter had a coronary, which left him in a coma for months. On December 8, 1964, his 73rd birthday, he died. His children were not notified of his death, and read his obituary in The New York Times a week later. He was buried in Pine Lawn Veterans Cemetery, close to his childhood home.

JOAN CROSBY TIBBETTS, ADMINISTRATRIX

The death of my father, after his mysterious disappearance for years, was a shock. Little did I know when I was appointed by the New York Surrogate Court as his administratrix in March, 1965 that he was a political prisoner of the powerful Corn Products Corporation ("CPC"), which had stolen his Skippy business, destroyed his reputation and career, and looted his estate of valuable assets. I was then age 32, with four infant children, unaware that I was now "under surveillance", and that it was the intent of CPC and its allies (including my father's and Skippy, Inc. former counsel, Lord, Day & Lord) to steal our inheritance, and to subject Skippy, Inc. and me to years of prolonged, vexatious lawsuits.

Stein, an accomplice of Rosefield and CPC,lied to my attorney that Percy Crosby "gave permission" for the brand name Skippy in 1935, and that she investigated, telling him the estate had no legal claims. An investigation of the court record revealed that Stein also lied re her majority control of Skippy stock, as she never received court approval. I demanded return of these assets, and she refused, telling my attorney I would have to sue, or either pay her $10,000 for her Skippy stock certificates.

In December, 1965 I sued attorney Stein in behalf of the Crosby estate and Skippy, Inc., and prevailed in both actions. In her deposition testimony, Stein claimed she had no Skippy files or documents we requested. "They blew out of an open window...it was a hot day." On February 8, 1968 Supreme Court Justice Irwin Saypol severely reprimanded Stein, and her counsel, for their conduct, telling them they could both be "disbarred". He found that she had mismanaged my father's property as a ward of the Court. He ordered her to resign as Skippy president, and to return all Skippy stocks and assets she had taken without court approval. He ordered Stein to "release" me as administratrix, Skippy, Inc. and heirs from all future suits, judgments and controversies re Skippy matters. He instructed my attorney to issue new Skippy stock certificates to me as administratrix, declaring that all Skippy transactions without the Court's express approval were "null and void". Although I had asked the Court for an accounting from Stein on Skippy profits, Justice Saypol denied my prayer, saying he had no patience to endure Stein's presence, referring to her as an "emotional hysteric". It was not until after Stein's death in 1985 that I learned of her ties to Rosefield and the Skippy peanut butter racket.

I became Skippy president in 1968, and reported to the Court that the assets of Percy Crosby estate were under $60,000, unaware that CPC had been a silent partner in the litigation and was concealing a fortune in stolen Skippy assets.

It was not until April 23,1987 that a top level CPC officer admitted to a news reporter after CPC's annual meeting that "CPC has been in court with the Crosby heirs for the past 20 years." (Bergen County NJ Record, 4/24/87, page B-1). This confession came after my four children (then adult) and I appeared at the annual meeting , distributed press releases, and made a public protest about CPC's theft of Skippy.

In 1977, I met with CPC's in-house counsel, Hanes Heller, to discuss the legal claims of Skippy, Inc. and to seek a settlement without being forced to sue. My husband and I had moved to Virginia and had just learned that the federal public record in the Patent Office of Skippy's opposition against Rosefield Packing Co.(1933-34) had been "accidentally destroyed" in 1965-66, during the Crosby estate litigation in New York. I asked Heller if he had a copy of the action with him, and he said it was in his briefcase, but would not show it to me. He falsely told me he had no knowledge of trademark law, and stated falsely that the statute of limitations had expired. Although he admitted that Rosefield's conduct in taking Skippy was "unconscionable", he denied that Best Foods/CPC had any liability. But he did not disclose that Jerome Rosefield became Best Foods officer, director and head of the "Skippy division" in 1955. He denied any knowledge Lord, Day & Lord represented CPC, and had refused to give me legal files of Skippy, Inc. and Percy Crosby I demanded. He offered me $10,000 to file a dissolution of Skippy as a Delaware corporation, which I refused. He asked me what I would do if I had "a lot of money", and I said I would use it to sue CPC if, as I believed, CPC had no legal right to the Skippy trademark. Heller claimed he was "sympathetic" to what happened to my father and wanted to "help". His "help" came in the use of fraud, trickery and threats to induce me to sign an option agreement to CPC for the Skippy property, with a payment of $25,000, which required me to release CPC before I could receive the legal files from Lord, Day & Lord.

When I got the files in 1978, I was angry and phoned Heller to protest that they were highly material and deliberately concealed from my father's estate. His comment: "I was afraid you'd find them helpful." I was unaware then he had written a memo of our first meeting, admitting that the Skippy peanut butter label was "plagiarized" from my father's work, and stated his concern about "adverse publicity" to CPC if I pursued Skippy's legal claims. Heller refused to settle out of court, and warned me that if Skippy Inc. sued to cancel CPC's Skippy trademark, "We'll fight you to the death...CPC has considerable influence in Washington corridors and can see to it that certain doors remain forever closed to you and Skippy." As my family and I were to learn, CPC had no qualms about using its corrupt influence to compromise Skippy, Inc. counsel, to obstruct justice and to use its political influence with law firms and government agencies to suppress a criminal investigation of its Skippy enterprise.

No reputable attorney with a "high profile" case involving theft from a celebrity artist's estate would advise his client to file suit in the wrong jurisdiction, and insist that Virginia was the client's "most favorable forum", while ignoring instructions to file in New York. But that is what Skippy's counsel, Stephen Trattner, did in 1980, knowing that it was the forum of choice for CPC, Virginia being "the peanut capital of the world". Trattner not only lost our jury trial demand for damages, and request for an injunction, but he concealed incriminating evidence in CPC's legal files from his client and the Court, and never revealed that the New York Supreme Court had original jurisdiction over Rosefield's fraudulent conveyance of Skippy to Best Foods in 1955. Skippy, Inc. v. CPC International, Inc., 210 U.S.P.Q. 589, E.D. Va.,1980.

We appealed and in 1982 the Fourth Circuit upheld the 1934 final decision of the Patent Office for Skippy, Inc., vacating the lower court's declaratory judgment that CPC's Skippy trademark was incontestable. CPC refused to heed the district judge's request for a certified order, and Trattner refused to take proper action. I fired him in 1982 for conniving at his client's defeat. Skippy, Inc. v. CPC International, Inc., 674 F. 2d 209, 4th Cir. 1982. Little did we know then that CPC had fraudulently concealed "smoking gun" evidence of its infamous battle with the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) re peanut butter standards, and the FDA decision in 1966 that "Skippy is adulterated and outlawed." CPC lost its appeal of the FDA decision in 1970 (U.S. Court of Appeals, Third Circuit).

Meanwhile, Trattner in May 1981 filed a $20 million dollar legal malpractice suit in New York, which was reported in the Wall Street Journal as "Skippy Inspires Legal Jam". After I fired him, I could find no attorney to take case. It was dismissed in 1985, the Court finding that Lord, Day & Lord should have been named defendant with CPC in 1980. There were major omissions in this case pleadings as well, notably the fact that it was Lord, Day & Lord who drafted and filed the original 1933 Skippy Inc. action v. Rosefield in the Patent Office, and had destroyed the evidence before sending the legal files to me in 1978. No conspiracy count was included in the complaint. Trattner received a letter from Chester Vincent dated June 30,1981 that he told me proved his belief of CPC's "fraud", but he would not give me copy of letter. I typed a copy of the letter while he was absent from his office, and phoned Vincent after I fired Trattner. Vincent confirmed that Trattner lied to me he contacted Vincent, who alleged that the Rosefield family put millions of dollars in off-shore banks to keep it "out of the reach of the Crosby heirs."

Thanks to a feature article in the Washington Post, Sunday edition in early January about the "Peanut Butter Wars" and consumer activist Ruth Desmond, I discovered why CPC had fraudulently concealed this incriminating evidence from the 1980 Court. Not only had Jerome Rosefield given knowingly false testimony to the FDA Examiner at the 1966 peanut butter hearings, denying the Examiner's question, "Are you sure there isn't some patent abuse here (with Skippy)?", but CPC officer John Volkhardt had given testimony to the FDA : "Skippy was originally named after the cartoon character who was painting his name on a fence." This blatant admission of trade forgery of Percy Crosby's Skippy signature and comic symbols was the basis of our 1980 lawsuit, yet Volkhardt 's 1980 sworn testimony denied any connection. Rosefield also admitted that the FDA complained about Rosefield's 1933 Skippy label, but he did not reveal to the FDA Examiner in 1966 that the Patent Office had prohibited Rosefield's Skippy application as a matter of statutory law in 1934. I sent a demand letter to CPC counsel Hanes Heller, warning him Skippy would re-enter the food market with an authentic Skippy product, but I got no reply.

My husband and I found a licensee interested in selling Skippy caramel corn with peanuts in a child's sand pail that my sister (a commercial artist) and I designed with Percy Crosby's Skippy character to parody Volkhardt's admissions of trade forgery. Skippy counsel James L. Kurtz advised us to recapture the market "CPC stole from your father", assuring us CPC would "commit legal suicide" if they dared to sue. Annual minimum sales of the product were estimated at $1.5 million dollars, and the artistic pail was an instant success. Then our attorney suddenly refused to represent Skippy, denying that CPC had influenced him. CPC then made a major change on its Skippy label to conceal its imitation of Crosby's distinctive lettering. Our licensee told us they were having problems getting the product on store shelves via jobbers and distributors who were afraid of CPC's reprisal, but did not tell us that CPC had sent a cease and desist letter to our licensee, Pineland Peanut Processors. My husband and I became alarmed when attorney Kurtz warned us CPC intended to sue until we were "both dead." We met with the assistant U.S. Attorney. He told us there was "strong evidence of CPC's fraud on the court in 1980", and assured us he would take action if CPC sued. Both Kurtz and CPC were fully aware my husband had been hospitalized and diagnosed with congestive heart disease, and that further litigation could be dangerous.

On January 29,1986 I received CPC's complaint one day after Skippy's federal trademark became incontestable and 2 weeks after assurance from the U.S. Attorney of assistance. CPC accused us of trademark infringement, unfair competition, false advertising, the same action Skippy filed in 1980, but added my "tortious interference" with their "famous" Skippy mark. Like my father, I could find no attorney to defend us, nor would our licensee's attorney or the Justice Department help. CPC made a secret deal with our licensee to cut off our royalty income and got a preliminary injunction. My pro se protests were futile. I was unaware then that Congress in 1984 made trademark counterfeiting a federal crime, but could not believe that the government would turn a deaf ear and blind eye to CPC's predatory conduct. My husband and I filed a petition to cancel CPC's Skippy trademarks, and flew to New York to find counsel to re-open the Crosby estate. The U.S. Attorney there told us they would have jurisdiction once we filed. We returned to Virginia, unaware that CPC had filed a bogus default motion in our absence. We received the summons for a hearing within 2 days, and my husband was enraged at the "extortion", unable to sleep. The next day we met with a lawyer, who agreed to represent us, saying the case was "outrageous". Within minutes after returning home, Waldo Tibbetts collapsed with a massive coronary.

I hired the attorney he referred to me, unaware of the serious conflict, who assured me he could convince CPC to dismiss the case and pay Skippy, Inc., in view of Waldo's critical condition. CPC refused to dismiss the case, and it went to trial (a half day), after which our attorney suddenly withdrew.

The decision in CPC's favor, finding Skippy and me guilty of trademark infringement, unfair competition and false advertising, and the "final order" permanently enjoining us from making public statements that CPC does not own the Skippy mark, was a shock. CPC v. Skippy, Inc. and Joan Tibbetts, 651 F. Supp. 62.

Many lawyers were incredulous at CPC's temerity in getting a "gag order" in violation of our First Amendment right of free speech and right of petition for redress. Scores of consumers boycotted Skippy peanut butter in protest, and I filed a complaint with the Justice Department at the assistant U.S. Attorney's request. Notably, CPC never advised its stockholders or the Securities & Exchange Commission of its alleged victories in the Skippy litigation, knowing full well that title to stolen property can not be conveyed.

©2008 Percy Crosby Estate/SKIPPY, INC

Legal Notice!

Due to the continuing public confusion that Unilever and its affiliates have created with their unauthorized use of SKIPPY's famous name for a brand name peanut butter, Skippy, Inc. and the Percy Crosby Estate disclaim any liability for fraudulent marketing and counterfeit SKIPPY products and services, in violation of federal and state laws. Those who aid and abet such conduct, including law firms, stores, suppliers, ad agencies, insurance firms, investment bankers, etc. should take note that willful violations carry stiff penalties. Unilever executives and its law department claim to be in compliance with their strict code of corporate ethics. Yet, they remain willfully blind when it comes to stealing the SKIPPY name and character that Percy Crosby created and made world famous.

Joan Crosby Tibbetts
President, Skippy, Inc.
and Administratrix, Percy Crosby Estate

This guide was assembled by booksuncommon.  Any errors are mine. For those I apologize.

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