P[otter], H[elen] B[eatrix]--West, A.L.--Weatherly, Frederic E.

Estimate

15,000 - 20,000 GBP

bidding is closed

Description

Our Dear Relations. London: Hildesheimer & Faulkner / New York: Geo. C. Whitney, [1893]
PAPER

oblong 12mo, first and only edition, 6 chromolithographed illustrations of which 4 are signed "H.B.P." and 2 are signed "A.W.", original pictorial wrappers, gilt edges, tied with light blue silk cord finished with two tassels, collector's folding box, slightly soiled, lacking one tassel, minor loss to spine, slightly bumped at one corner

Literature

Not in the V&A

Catalogue Note

Extremely rare. Only one other copy has been offered at auction in the last thirty years. In 1997 the copy from the Doris Frohnsdorff collection was noted as being 'one of only three copies know to exist (of the remaining two, one is incomplete).'

As with A Happy Pair, the verses were supplied by Frederic E. Weatherly and the book dates from the early 1890s when Potter supplied the greetings card firm of Hildesheimer and Faulkner with designs. The two illustrations for 'The Guinea Pigs' Supper' and two illustrations for 'The Cat at the Ball' were each printed as pairs of greetings cards: 'A bright and happy Christmas' and 'A bright and happy New Year'.