About this Item
First edition copy of one of Beatrix Potter's most popular tales, The Tale of Benjamin Bunny, with an inscription by Beatrix Potter reading 'Nellie Wilkinson from Miss Potter, Oct 1st 04'. A continuation of the Peter Rabbit story, featuring his cousin, Benjamin Bunny, the backgrounds to the tale were illustrated during a summer in Fawe Park in the Lake district in 1903 and then added to during the subsequent winter in London. This copy, the author's presentation copy, was inscribed to Nellie Wilkinson, the niece of sisters Hannah and Elizabeth Harper, who worked at the family home in Kensington, Beatrix gifted Nellie a copy of each of her books as they were published. The first and second impressions, published in September and October 1904 are indistinguishable from each other, although the date would suggest this is likely a first impression. Two corrections were picked up by Potter after the first edition was printed, 'muffatees' was mispelled as 'muffetees' and the word 'we' in the sentence 'what we call lavendar' was not italicised, both of these errors are found in this copy. Potter was surprised to discover the book had already had two print runs, so it was not until the third impression that these corrections could be added, leaving the first two impressions impossible to differentiate between. With the the inscription on the front free endpaper, the title page and frontispiece have been supplied from a different copy. Signed by the Author. Colour frontispiece and 26 illustrations, pp. 85, [1], (Linder, A History of the Writings of Beatrix Potter, 1979, pp. 143 - 148, 424; Taylor, 'Beatrix Potter's Society Newsletter', No. 61, p. 18.). Provenance: Sotheby's, 16th May, 1996, lot 188. First Edition. Bound in original tan boards with titles stamped in dark green to the spine and front board around a blind oval panel with inset panel in colour. 16mo Boards clean apart from some light mottling, wear along the spine edges with some light reinforcement at the crown and weakness at the foot, front inner hinge splitting, frontispiece and title-page supplied from another copy, occasional light handling marks to outer margins but pages otherwise clean, illustrations on pp. 14 & 62 with binding crease, pp. 26-27 with corner crease, light soiling to endpapers and verso of half-title, binding firm and square, overall good condition.
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