Piper, Watty | "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can..."

The Passion of American Collectors: Property of Barbara and Ira Lipman

Piper, Watty

The Little Engine That Could...retold by Watty Piper from the Pony Engine by Mabel C. Bragg, illustrated by Lois L. Lenski. New York: Platt and Munk, 1930

8vo (204 x 155 mm). Half-title, black and white as well as color illustrations throughout; Original red cloth, cover pictorially stamped in blue, illustrated endpapers. Original pictorial dust jacket printed in colors; minor toning and soiling, minor wear to corners with some fractional loss, small nicks to head and tail of spine, small hole to upper spine panel, one or two short closed tears. 

First edition of this children's classic, which popularized the phrase "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can..."

Although "Watty Piper," a penname created by the Platt and Munk, was credited with the retelling of this story, the original version, The Pony Engine, is attributed to Mabel C. Bragg on the title-page of this edition. Ms. Bragg, however, never claimed to have penned the story. It was, in fact, authored by Mary Jacobs, who wrote The Pony Engine in 1910. The earliest known published version of the tale (although it is markedly shorter), was published in Wellspring for Young People, a children's Sunday school publication in 1906 with no author listed.