Books

Chicago: Reilly & Britton,, 1911. Book. Very Good. Hardcover. Later Printings. 32mo - over 4" - 5" tall. Six Volumes, 32mo, 4" h x 3" w. The Night Before Christmas dated 1905, the rest, 1911. Bound in original red paper covered boards with pictorial paste downs to front covers that are surrounded by a stamped design of holly and berries. White end papers, each book with numerous full-page color and some black and white illustrations throughout, the only credited illustrator John R. Neill for Peter Rabbit. Introductions by L. Frank Baum. Publisher's ads at ends. A Very Good set, lacking the original slipcase, spines a bit rubbed, contents clean and unmarked, hinges solid. SCARCE as a complete set. The tumultuous and complicated history of "Little Black Sambo" as a book and as a pejorative term adds a painful overlay to this otherwise charming Christmas stocking stuffer..

The Tale of Peter Rabbit is a children's book written and illustrated by Beatrix Potter that follows mischievous and disobedient young Peter Rabbit as he is chased about the garden of Mr. McGregor. He escapes and returns home to his mother, who puts him to bed after dosing him with tea. The tale was written for five-year-old Noel Moore, son of Potter's former governess Annie Carter Moore, in 1893. It was revised and privately printed by Potter in 1901 after several publishers' rejections, but it was printed in a trade edition by Frederick Warne & Co. in 1902. The book was a success, and multiple reprints were issued in the years immediately following its debut. It has been reprinted multiple times since then and is regarded as one of the most iconic children's books.