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An unusually fine copy of the privately printed first edition, which preceded the trade edition by two years. Unpaginated [84 pp]. Illustrated with color frontispiece and 41 full page black and white line drawings, each faced by accompanying text. Bound in publisher's plain boards lettered in black with cover vignette depicting four rabbits. Fine. Small faint stain to front cover and faint bump to bottom corner there, light foxing to textblock edges and lower margins of first and last few pages. Housed in a custom blue cloth clamshell case titled in gilt on spine. A stunning copy of very first edition of the beloved children's story. Quinby No. 1. Beatrix Potter was raised by a series of nurses and governesses, an affluent but lonely childhood that allowed her plenty of time to draw and paint. Her final governess, Annie Moore, was the elder by just three years and became a good friend. Moore left the household to marry but remained close, and Beatrix sent Annie's many children illustrated letters whenever she was away from London. In 1893, when Beatrix was 27, little Noel Moore was ailing and needed entertainment. His correspondent ran out of things to say in her letters and made up a story about four little rabbits instead. Thus was Peter Rabbit born. The bunny story was followed by other animal tales, and Annie Moore convinced her friend that the stories should be submitted for publication. Beatrix Potter took her advice but met with no success, and after several rejections she decided to issue the book herself for the benefit of friends and family. The Tale of Peter Rabbit was printed in December 1901, in time for Christmas, in a run of 250 copies. It was a hit. A small reprint in February 1902 followed, and the book caught the attention of the publisher Frederick Warne & Co, which had previously rejected Potter's manuscript. Minor alterations were made to the text, and Warne insisted the illustrations be redrawn for reproduction in color. Thirty of them were, while the others remain unique to this printing, which offers a chance to appreciate Potter's linework without the added watercolor. The trade edition came out in 1903 and was an instant bestseller. It was the first of 22 little books published by Warne, which together have become an indelible part of childhood in the English-speaking world. The stories are sweet and sharp and rendered in clear prose, a departure from the sentimental and didactic children?s stories popular at the time. The illustrations are exquisite, the animals anatomically correct in their little frocks and bonnets, and the books will undoubtedly be enjoyed by children of the next century as much as they were in this and the last.
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