Doctor Dolittle's Post Office (1920) is a children's fantasy novel by
Hugh Lofting. The novel is the third in a series of fifteen books
featuring Doctor Dolittle, a character created by Lofting in letters
written to his wife and children at home while he served in the Great
War. Beloved by generations of adults and children for their imaginative
nature and moral worldview, Lofting's books have inspired numerous
adaptations for theater, film, and television.
Doctor John Dolittle is an ordinary physician with an extraordinary
gift. Renowned for his ability to communicate with animals, Dolittle has
made a name for himself as a traveling veterinarian with a generous
heart and a courageous spirit. On the West Coast of Africa, he finds
himself enlisted to help rescue the captives on an illegal slave ship,
earning him the respect of the people of Fantippo. There, he befriends
King Koko, who encourages him to open the small kingdom's first postal
service, allowing them to communicate with distant continents using
thousands of migratory birds. Told in episodic fashion, and with each
episode containing wilder and more wonderful adventures than the next,
Lofting's novel features a lost island filled with prehistoric beasts,
the invention of an alphabet for animals, and a tortoise who has been
alive since before the Great Flood. Doctor Dolittle's Post Office is a
delightful work of fantasy for children and adults alike.
With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript,
this edition of Hugh Lofting's Doctor Dolittle's Post Office is a
classic of English children's fiction reimagined for modern readers.