Hugh John Lofting (1886 - 1947) was a British author, trained as a civil engineer, who created the character of Doctor Dolittle - one of the classics of children's literature. Doctor Dolittle first saw light in the author's illustrated letters to children, written from the trenches during World War I when actual news, he later said, was either too horrible or too dull. The stories are set in early Victorian England, where Doctor John Dolittle lives in the fictional village of Puddleby-on-the-Marsh in the West Country.In this book:The Story of Doctor Dolittle, Doctor Dolittle's Garden, Doctor Dolittle in the Moon, Doctor Dolittle's Circus, Doctor Dolittle's Return, The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle