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91 POTTER, Beatrix. The Tailor of Gloucester. [London: privately printed by Strangeway & Sons,] December 1902 her own favourite First edition, first impression, one of 500 copies privately printed for the author a year before Warne’s trade edition, issued in the same month and in a similar format to the second privately printed Peter Rabbit . The text of this edition is considerably longer than that of the first trade edition and the cover incorporates a vignette illustration that was never used again. The Tailor of Gloucester was first written and illustrated for Freda Moore as a Christmas present in 1901. Potter had the tale privately printed, as Warne had not yet published The Tale of Peter Rabbit and she did not think her publishers would want a second book from her so soon. The story is unique in the series with its period setting (Potter drew the costumes from the collection at the V&A museum, then the South Kensington Museum), and was based on a true story that Potter had heard while staying with her cousin Caroline Hutton in Gloucestershire: an elaborate waistcoat had been commissioned for a grand mayoral occasion, but the tailor lacked the time to complete it and needed another packet of cherry-coloured silk – though more prosaically, it was his two assistants who had secretly finished the work. In 1916 Potter inscribed a copy of the Warne edition stating, “this is my own favourite amongst my little books”. Leslie Linder notes, however, that “the privately printed edition . . . was the one she liked better”. Apparently the author inscribed a copy of the privately printed edition in 1918 and noted “this is my favourite amongst the little books and I like this first edition because it contains more of the old rhymes”.
Sextodecimo. Original pink boards, front cover lettered and with vignette in black. Colour frontispiece and 15 colour plates by the author. Some light toning to boards, as usual, light browning to endpapers, light foxing to top edge; a crisp and near-fine copy. ¶ Linder, p. 420; Quinby 3. £7,250 [154548] 92 POTTER, Beatrix. The Tailor of Gloucester. London: Frederick Warne and Co., 1903
deluxe chintz from her grandfather’s factory
First trade edition, deluxe issue in art fabric, first issue with single-page endpapers. Only this work and The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin were issued in the present patterned cloth, provided by Beatrix Potter’s grandfather’s calico printing factory in Manchester at her request. The Tailor of Gloucester was first printed privately in 1902, with the author adding 16 new illustrations for the present trade edition, published in October 1903. Sextodecimo. Original floral-patterned cloth, front cover lettered in gilt on white cloth label, pictorial endpapers. Housed in a custom white cloth folding box. Frontispiece (variant from standard binding issue, no priority) and 26 colour illustrations by the author. Inner hinges cracked, some light finger-soiling, no wear to binding. A very good copy. ¶ Linder, p. 423; not in Quinby. £4,500 [130129]
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90 POTTER, Beatrix. “ His mother put him to bed, and made some camomile tea; and she gave a dose of it to Peter!” 1927 Original artwork Beatrix Potter’s frontispiece illustration from The Tale of Peter Rabbit , redrawn in 1927 with subtle but important differences. This is one of the original drawings created by the artist and sold in America to raise money for the National Trust. When Potter first privately published Peter Rabbit in 1901, it appeared as she had conceived it: with black and white drawings and a colour frontispiece. The image of Peter in bed being given camomile tea is therefore the first coloured illustration of Peter Rabbit to be published. As printed in 1901, Mrs Rabbit looks at the occupant of the bed and Peter hides under the sheet. Here, however, Potter changes the focus and
Mrs Rabbit looks out of the illustration while Peter himself peeps out from his bed. Peter’s paws are also further apart. The 1901 illustration gives the impression that Peter is hiding and this redrawn version suggests that Peter is more active and poised to escape or resist the dreaded camomile tea. For Potter’s endeavour to raise funds for the National Trust, see item 89. Provenance: 1) bought by Mrs T. M. Townsend? (pencil note on reverse); 2) Peter Harrington; 3) The Schøyen Collection. Original drawing (90 × 93 mm) on paper (176 × 128 mm), ink and watercolour, signed and dated (“Beatrix Potter Aug 1927”) lower right, mounted, framed, and glazed. Book label for the Schøyen Collection on reverse. Some consistent toning. ¶ Taylor, Whalley, Hobbs, & Battick, Beatrix Potter 1866–1943 , pp. 193–4. £35,000 [156828]
All items are fully described and photographed at peterharrington.co.uk
CHILDREN’S BOOKS & ORIGINAL ARTWORK
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