Curious George

The census claim that Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 1941 is the true first is upheld - the Reys reached New York in 1940 after fleeing Paris, and Curious George was first published in America in August 1941. Two census details are wrong and are corrected here: the 1939 French precursor was published in Paris as 'Rafi et les 9 singes', with a UK version the same year as 'Raffy and the 9 Monkeys', and in it the monkey is called Fifi; 'Cecily G. and the 9 Monkeys' is the 1942 Houghton Mifflin American retitling of that book, not a 1939 French title. The first British edition of Curious George itself appeared as 'Zozo' (Chatto & Windus, London, 1942), the character renamed so as not to associate King George VI with a monkey; it is separately collected as the first UK appearance and was later reissued under the Curious George title with revised text. Margret Rey went uncredited as co-author on early copies.