The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter

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"Once upon a time there were four little Rabbits, and their names were - Flopsy, Mopsy, Cotton-tail, And Peter. They lived with their Mother in a sand-bank, underneath the root of a very big fir-tree."

The above is the introduction to one of the best-loved children's stories of all time -The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter. On September 4th, 1893, Miss Potter sat down to write a letter to Noel Moore, the five-year-old son of her ex-governess, all about a naughty rabbit called Peter. Noel was ill in bed and so Miss Potter wrote to him: "My dear Noel, I don't know what to write to you, so I shall tell you a story about four little rabbits..." The letter was wonderfully illustrated with tiny and exquisite pictures. 

It wasn't until some years later that Miss Potter thought of publishing the story as a book as she had come to realize that stories she wrote to children of various friends and relatives were being very well received and eagerly anticipated. Miss Potter approached Noel and asked him if just by some chance he had kept the letter that she had written all those years ago and if so could she borrow it. What luck! He had kept the letter and was very pleased to lend it to her!

She rewrote the story of "Peter Rabbit" into an exercise book, preparing 42 pen-and-ink drawings to illustrate it, and sent it to six publishers. It was rejected by every one of them. In 1901 Miss Potter decided to have the book privately printed and published and a very limited number of 250 copies were produced in December of that year, with a further 200 copies in February 1902. It was not until after the private printing appeared that Frederick Warne agreed to publish it themselves. The trade edition of "The Tale of Peter Rabbit" as published in 1902, costing one shilling (the equivalent of just 5 pence today,) and became one of the most famous stories ever written. 

Although Miss Potter always believed in her book, even she was surprised by quite how popular it became. It was an overnight success, and she believed that this was because the story had originally been written for a real child.

The privately published (1901) version of Peter Rabbit is probably one of the rarest and most valuable children's books for the collector today. Stella Books was recently privileged to be in the position to buy a copy of the second private printing of 1902. At the time of writing, a detailed description of the book with pictures is available to view on our website. Rose's Books were also fortunate enough to purchase just a week or so later the first trade (1902) edition, details also available on the website at the time of writing.

"I have a copy of this book but it's not dated, how can I tell if I have a first edition or not?" I hear you ask. Here are some pointers:

•  The first trade printing of The Tale of Peter Rabbit, published by Frederick Warne & Co. in October 1902, should have grey or brown boards and have plain leaf-pattern endpapers on a pale grey background.

•  There are no recognizable differences between the first three printings, except that green boards were introduced after the first printing.

•  The first four printings of Peter Rabbit have 97 pages, changing to 85 pages in 1903 when coloured endpapers were first introduced and four pictures were removed.

•  The first three printings of Peter Rabbit have the words "wept big tears" on page 51 which was changed to "shed big tears" in the fourth printing (April 1903).

•  If your copy is published by Frederick Warne & Co. Ltd, you have a later edition as Warne became a limited company in 1919.

Peter Rabbit has always been Beatrix Potter's most popular character - he also features in The Tale of Benjamin Bunny, The Tale of The Flopsy Bunnies, and The Tale of Mr. Tod. And finally... Did you know that Beatrix Potter really did own a pet rabbit called Peter?

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Contributed by Maria Goddard.

Information taken from "The Tale of Beatrix Potter - A Biography" by Margaret Lane and "A History of the Writings of Beatrix Potter" by Leslie Linder.

(Published 17th Dec 2014)