NMLP P-038929 · True-first precedence · minted 2026-07-19

Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel

Virginia Lee Burton · Houghton Mifflin (Boston) · 1939

US true first confirmed: Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 1939, and it is the sole first — no earlier or simultaneous British or foreign-language edition is documented in the sources consulted, and non-US editions are later. The census claim of a US-only true first stands as written; there is no UK-vs-US precedence question for this title.

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New Mexico Literacy Project — True-first precedence NMLP P-038929 for "Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel" by Virginia Lee Burton (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/id/point/p-038929, CC BY 4.0, dataset DOI 10.5281/zenodo.21184548).