The Tale Of Johnny Town-Mouse (First American Edition)

Beatrix Potter

Published by Frederick Warne & Co., New York, 1918

About this Item

This is the First American edition, without "Ltd." on the title page. There are twenty-seven color illustrations, including the frontispiece. The same color pictorial inside covers and end papers are used twice, front and rear. 1918 is the only date on the copyright page. The front cover has the color illustration inset. It is in excellent condition. You can see the covers in the photos. The white lettering on the front is fairly bright. That's also the case on the spine (see first and second photos). The covers are pretty clean, a couple of spots, or small darkened areas, on the rear. The corners have rub-through, but the edges do not. Most of the wear is around the spine. There are two areas of loss. They can be best seen in the photo of the front cover and the photo of the rear cover. There is also small loss at the spine ends, though not reaching the lettering. The page edges look clean. The book is quite square, not slanted. It is also pretty solidly bound. There are no cracks/spaces between the inside covers and end papers. There is a very thin space at the gutter between the copyright page and the facing blank verso of an illustrated page. Both pages are tightly bound. Impressively, that is the only space between any of the pages and after that the binding is quite good to excellent. I'll reference the imperfections and try to be comprehensive because this is not an inexpensive book (although quite a lot less costly than the one that sold for $500.00 at Christie's in 1997, a First American Edition identical to mine and with a condition description that seems fairly similar, mine has a better binding). So the only imperfection of real significance is a scuff on the rear inside cover just inside the outer edge that lifted up the surface paper (no holes) over a 2 3/4 by 2 1/4" area affecting two of the illustrations. The illustrated rear end paper has a couple of thin creases. Both pages are clean. The illustration on the front inside cover and front end paper are not worn. The former has a thin strip of darkening. On the whole the pages are pretty clean. The majority have no soiling or spotting. On the pages where there's a bit of something it's usually one or two small pale spots, likely light foxing. That's the case off the top edge of the frontispiece and title page, small spots. And mostly far from the print. There are no losses or tears. There are two instances where there are small scuffs on two blank facing pages. And between the last two pages, 84 and 85, there's also a small scuff on both sides of the gutter just off the top page edge, each 3/8th's" across by 1/8th" down. In all three instances, long ago, these small areas on these pages likely got lightly stuck together and were scuffed in the separation. Visually, it's quite minor to my eye. The bottom corner of page 85 has a crease. That crease is pretty unusual which tells you that the pages are in quite good condition. Finally, there are no markings on any of the pages. No attachments in the book. And no one has written their name or anything else anywhere. 'The Tale of Johnny Town-Mouse is a children's book written and illustrated by Beatrix Potter and first published by Frederick Warne & Co. in December 1918. The tale is based on the Aesop fable, "The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse", with details taken from Horace's Satires 2.6.79-117. It tells of a country mouse and a city mouse who visit each other in their respective homes. After sampling the other's way of life, both express a decided preference for their own. The book was critically well received. The Johnny Town-mouse character appeared in a 1971 ballet film, and the tale has been adapted to a BBC television animated series. Johnny Town-Mouse was the only book of her later years for which Potter prepared a whole set of new drawings. The book was published bearing the dedication, "To Aesop in the shadows".'.

Seller Inventory # 002315

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Tale Of Johnny Town-Mouse (First American Edition)
• Publisher: Frederick Warne & Co., New York
• Publication Date: 1918
• Language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Printing: 1st Printing
• Condition: Good Plus
• Seller catalogs:
  • Crème de la crème
  • Classic Children's Books
  • Children's Books or Juvenile Fiction