Beatrix Potter | The Tale of Peter Rabbit, [London,] 1902, first edition, second issue, inscribed by the author

Beatrix Potter

The Tale of Peter Rabbit. [London: privately printed], February 1902

PRESENTATION COPY, SIGNED AND INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR, FIRST EDITION, SECOND ISSUE (one of c.200 printed, with rounded spine), 16mo (135 x 103mm.), colour frontispiece and 41 full-page line drawings by the author, original green pictorial boards, light spotting, spine and boards slightly sunned at extremities

A splendid copy of the privately printed first edition of the first book by Beatrix Potter, with a charming presentation inscription in aid of the Scottish Women's Hospitals, dated October 11 1918:

"Whilst strenuously denying that my name is in any way "distinguished" — I believe it is familiar amongst the children of many lands — may I hope that some good American will give a good price for this little book? It is a genuine curiosity, one of 500 privately printed copies of Peter Rabbit; which had failed to find a publisher. The first imprint — I think 250 — was printed in Dec 1901, and a further 200 (or 250?) in Feb 1902. Please buy it somebody, in aid of a noble cause. Beatrix Potter".

By the date of this inscription, more than a decade and a half after the publication of Peter Rabbit, Potter was a wealthy woman, who continued to write and became engaged in a number of charitable endeavors. Nonetheless, 1918 was an especially difficult year for Potter, as she had to contend with the untimely death of her younger brother Walter Bertram (Taylor).

LITERATURE

Linder, p. 420; Quinby 1a; Taylor, The Artist and her World, passim.

PROVENANCE

"From Beatrix Potter, Oct. 11 1918. In aid of the Scottish Women's Hospitals": presentation inscription, with bookplate of Scottish Women's Hospitals to rear pastedown