In November, AbeBooks sold a first edition, three-volume copy of Das Kapital for a whopping $51,739. We’ve listed the top five most expensive November sales at AbeBooks below; follow this link to read the rest of the complete list.

Here’s more from the bookseller: “If he were alive today Karl Heinrich Marx would probably have something to say after learning that AbeBooks had sold a very rare copy of Das Kapital, in three volumes, for $51,739 … Marx argued that working men and women were exploited, and many of the theories explored in his writing were adopted by labor movements. Of course, the book’s biggest impact came in Russia where the Tsarist regime censored it.”

1. Das Kapital by Karl Marx – $51,739
2. Complete Set of 10 issues of Aspen Magazine – $22,915
3. Raccolta di Statue Antiche e Moderne data in luce sotto i Gloriosi Auspicj della Santità di N.S. Papa Clemente XI by De Rossi Domenico – $9,556
4. How the Grinch Stole Christmas! By Dr. Seuss – $9,482
5. Walden: Or, Life in the Woods by Henry D. Thoreau – $7,950

The first official trailer for The Lorax has been released, an animated film where actor Danny DeVito plays the title character, The Lorax. We’ve embedded the trailer above–what do you think?

Dr. Seuss published his picture book starring the orange environmentalist in 1971. Seuss’ widow Audrey Geisel served as an executive producer on the project. The movie will hit theaters on March 2, 2012.

Here’s more from Empire: “Ted (Zac Efron), a lad with a big crush on Ashley (Taylor Swift). When she expresses a desire to see a real, live tree, Ted sets out from their heavily industrialised home to seek out the one person who might help him in his mission to track a tree down: The Once-ler (Ed Helms). But what he discovers is a tragic tale of greed over environmental care, as the Once-ler reveals how he chopped down all the trees in an effort to make himself rich via a product call Thneeds. And that’s despite the best efforts of furry tree-loving sprite The Lorax (Danny DeVito)…” (via Shelf Awareness)

For your weekend reading pleasure, we’ve collected the ten most popular publishing stories of the week–ranging from the National Book Awards to Dr. Seuss‘s take on H.P. Lovecraft to a controversial video of a one-year-old baby reading a magazine (embedded above).

Click here to sign up for GalleyCat’s daily email newsletter, getting all our publishing stories, book deal news, videos, podcasts, interviews, and writing advice in one place.

1. Free Samples of the National Book Award Finalists
2. How to Write Like Haruki Murakami
3. When to Stop Working on Your Book
4. How a Modern Baby Thinks about Reading
5. Barnes & Noble Removes 100 DC Graphic Novels
6. Dr. Seuss Versus H.P. Lovecraft
7. Morgan Spurlock Wants to Hear about Your Failed Novel
8. Christopher Hitchens Writes about Joan Didion’s New Memoir
9. Occupy Wall Street Library Catalog Online
10. Kern Type: Practice Publishing the Old Fashioned Way

What if Dr. Seuss had adapted H.P. Lovecraft‘s horrific masterpiece, The Call of Cthulhu? As you can see by the pages embedded above, artist DrFaustusAU has undertaken the task of creating a Seuss-ian version of the novel.

Follow this link to read all the sample pages. Below, we’ve embedded another compelling page.

Here’s more from the artist: “More Call of Cthulhu pages will be up shortly. I have returned to my mild-mannered day job this week, so I have had to momentarily turn my attention to a classroom full of screaming teenagers. Lovecraft fans truly are some of the best people in the world, and your encouragement has been awesome – so as I say, the adaptation will definitely continue.” (Via io9)

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In The Atlantic, PublicAffairs Books founder Peter Osnos wrote an essay about working as a young nonfiction editor 1984–shedding light on how advances used to work.

The article spotlighted bestselling Random House authors Dr. Seuss and James Michener: “Neither author took advances. Their revenues were so large and steady that they had a permanent drawing account and relied on the publisher and their financial advisers to see that the money was properly invested.”

When former-vice presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro auctioned her manuscript, it sold for $1 million; prior to auction, Osnos was told to offer $50,000. One year later, Osnos paid $1 million to publish politician Tip O’Neill’s memoir Man of the House. Now politicians and celebrities enjoy much larger advances. (via Jose Alfonso Furtado)

In honor of National Poetry Month, we’ve dug up a video of President Barack Obama reading a poetic Dr. Seuss story out loud.

As Obama prepared to read, he announced: “I am going to try to do the best rendition ever of Green Eggs and Ham.”

Do you think he accomplished his goal?

Happy National Poetry Month? In the video embedded above, Charlie Sheen reads his original poem, “Big White Phone.” Sheen self-published a poetry compilation back in the 90′s.

In February, he began pursuing a book deal. Esquire magazine created a Dr. Seuss-stylized-parody cartoon along with a “Charlie Sheen quote generator.”

Speaking of quotes, The Associated Press reports that Sheen has “applied to trademark 22 of his catchphrases including ‘Duh, Winning,’ ‘Vatican Assassin,’ ‘Tiger Blood’ and ‘Rock Star From Mars.’” (via Sarah Weinman)

Random House Children’s Books will publish seven Dr. Seuss stories into a hardcover compilation. Seuss published these stories in magazines during the early 1950′s, but this will be the first time they appear in a book.

The collection will feature the following tales: “The Bear, the Rabbit, and the Zinniga-Zanniga,” “Gustav the Goldfish,” “Tadd and Todd,” “Steak for Supper,” “The Bippolo Seed,” “The Strange Shirt Spot,” and “The Great Henry McBride.”

Publisher’s Weekly reports: ”Random enhanced the color palette of each story, and an introduction by Seuss scholar and collector Charles D. Cohen explains the significance of these seven stories, not only as lost treasures, but as transitional stories in Dr. Seuss’s career that marked the beginnings of his new philosophy about writing for children.”

Want a discount with your green eggs and ham? Groupon is offering a 67 percent savings on art from Seuss Prints.

Seuss Prints reproduces the artwork of children’s author Dr. Seuss as decorative prints. Groupon has a special deal with two options for customers: for $29 you can purchase an $89 unframed print, or for $49 you can buy a $118 framed print.

Here’s more about this offer: “Each print comes with an artist biography and unframed prints are slipped into a protective envelope for shipping to prevent smearing, crinkling, and acts of sabotage by jealous Richard Scary characters. Seuss Prints crafts only 2,500–5,000 of each image, and today’s deal expires in two months, so Groupon holders must act quickly to acquire a print.”

First Lady Michelle Obama (pictured, via) will kick off the 14th annual national Read Across America Day. Along with U.S. secretary of education Arne Duncan, she will read the Dr. Seuss classic, Green Eggs and Ham in honor of Seuss’ 107th birthday.  Actress Jessica Alba, Top Chef, TV host Padma Lakshmi, and Super Bowl champion Donald Driver will also appear.

Here’s more about the event from its official website: “[National Education Association] NEA’s Read Across America is an annual reading motivation and awareness program that calls for every child in every community to celebrate reading on March 2, the birthday of beloved children’s author Dr. Seuss. NEA’s Read Across America also provides NEA members, parents, caregivers, and children the resources and activities they need to keep reading on the calendar 365 days a year.”

Readers can log on to the site to make reading pledges. So far California boasts the most reading pledges  in the United States with 334 submissions. The site has also collected international pledges from readers in Brazil, Finland, Germany, and Turkmenistan.