The Tale of Peter Rabbit.

POTTER, Beatrix.

$100,000.00

Item Number: 141725

London: Privately Printed, 1901.

First edition, privately printed by the author (preceding all other editions) one of only 250 copies of this children’s classic. 12 mo, original cloth, illustrated, leaf patterned end-papers. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author in the year of publication on the front free endpaper, “for Mrs Oliver, from Beatrix Potter– with kind regards and best wishes for Christmas 1901.” The book was an instant success: Linda Lear writes that “Even before the publication of the tale in early October 1902, the first 8,000 copies were sold out. By the year’s end there were 28,000 copies of The Tale of Peter Rabbit in print. By the middle of 1903 there was a fifth edition sporting colored endpapers … a sixth printing was produced within the month,” and a year after the first commercial publication there were 56,470 copies in print. It has now been translated into 45 languages and has sold 45 million copies, making it one of the most successful children’s books of all time. In very good condition, small name. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box made by the Harcourt Bindery. Exceptionally scarce, most rare and desirable inscribed and signed.

In 1893, young Beatrix Potter, on holiday with her parents in Scotland, composed a letter to cheer Noel, the child of her former governess, who was suffering from rheumatic fever. "My dear Noel," she began, "I shall tell you a story about four little rabbits, whose names were Flopsy, Mopsy, Cottontail and Peter " The Tale of Peter Rabbit was born. Undaunted by multiple publishers' rejections, Potter published the first two private editions of Peter Rabbit at her own expense, both editions totaling only 450 copies which immediately sold. Publisher Frederick Warne agreed to print the first trade edition of Peter Rabbit and presented for the first time the now-familiar format of Potter's books: the earlier black-and-white line drawings replaced by full-color illustrations and the famous prancing image of Peter mounted on the front cover. "There are no recognizable differences between the first three printings, except that green boards were introduced after the first printing" (Linder, 421).