Books

First edition of this charming paint-by-line children's book featuring Potter's most beloved animal characters. Quarto, original pictorial cloth, pictorial endpapers, illustrated with 12 color plates, each with facing outlined illustration intended for coloring-in, two of which have been hand-painted. Presentation copy, lengthily inscribed by the author on the second free endpaper in the year of publication, "Love to Mary Kynaston from Miss Potter and Peter Rabbit: and love to Joan and Phyllis and their little brother from all the little animals. (It is going to be gray squirrels next time, but that is a secret!) Thank you for a very nice little letter last February. July 11. 11. from Beatrix Potter." The recipient, Mary Kynaston, was Headmistress at Queen's College in London, an independent school for girls aged 11-18 which was the first institution in the world to award academic qualifications to women and the first girls' school to be granted a Royal Charter for the furtherance of women's education. In near fine condition. Housed in a custom clamshell box. Beatrix Potter wrote and illustrated thirty books throughout the course of her lifetime, the best-known being her charming twenty-three children's tales featuring animals, including The Tale of Peter Rabbit which she self-published in her thirties after multiple publisher's rejections. The book was so well-received upon publication in 1902, that within just a few weeks she requested a second impression. Now firmly established as a popular writer and illustrator, Potter began writing full time and went on to produce such endearing stories as The Tale of The Flopsy Bunnies, The Tale of Benjamin Bunny, The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle, The Tale of Tom Kitten, and The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin, among others. With the proceeds from the books and a legacy from an aunt, Potter bought Hill Top Farm in Near Sawrey in 1905 and over the following decades, purchased additional farms to preserve the unique hill country landscape of the Lake District of Lancashire.