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The Very Rare First Book Illustrated By Beatrix Potter, A Happy Pair, 1890, With Six Chromolithographs By Potter buy in New York
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The Very Rare First Book Illustrated By Beatrix Potter, A Happy Pair, 1890, With Six Chromolithographs By Potter

The Very Rare First Book Illustrated By Beatrix Potter, A Happy Pair, 1890, With Six Chromolithographs By Potter

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First and only edition of a true children's rarity: the first book illustrated by Beatrix Potter, one of the most elusive of all her works, known in only a very few copies (estimated as few as ten, although to our knowledge no formal census exists). With six lovely chromolithographed illustrations, each signed H.B.P. in the stone, and cover designs, all by Potter. A charming copy and an inestimable addition to any collection of children's literature.

Early in 1890 Beatrix Potter, needing money to acquire a printing machine, received encouragement from her uncle Henry Roscoe to approach publishers with her Christmas card designs. She prepared six using her pet rabbit, Benjamin Bouncer, as the model. "I may mention… that my best designs occurred to me in chapel—I was rather impeded by the inquisitiveness of my aunt, and the idiosyncrasies of Benjamin who has an appetite for certain sorts of paint, but the cards were finished by Easter." She had a list of five publishers to approach. The first, Marcus Ward, turned her down; her brother Bertram took the drawings himself to the next firm, Hildesheimer & Faulkner. Mr. Faulkner immediately bought them for £6 and asked to see more of Potter's art. They met to discuss her drawings. "Mr. Faulkner had got a child's book, not of their publication, and showed me some of the pictures with an evident ambition to possess something of the same kind." Her watercolors were published as Christmas and New Year cards and were swiftly bound up with verses by songwriter Frederic Weatherly to form the booklet A Happy Pair. Potter continued to supply Hildesheimer & Faulkner and subsequently Ernest Nister with designs for greeting cards and annuals. "With the confidence this gave her, Beatrix then sent some sketches and a booket to a number of children's book publishers, among them Frederick Warne, who, although they returned them as unsuitable, expressed an interest in 'any ideas or drawings in book form.' It was an arena that Beatrix had not yet considered but she already thought that one day she might try her hand at it" (Taylor et al., 17). She ultimately developed The Tale of Peter Rabbit, launching a career that earned her a place among the immortal creators of children's books. Without title page, though not all known copies possess one; the book was a hastily assembled piece of holiday ephemera, and this copy may well have never had a title page. All six of Potter's chromolithographs are present. V&A 1765. Taylor 51-2. Potter's Journal, 212-14.
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The Very Rare First Book Illustrated By Beatrix Potter, A Happy Pair, 1890, With Six Chromolithographs By Potter
The Very Rare First Book Illustrated By Beatrix Potter, A Happy Pair, 1890, With Six Chromolithographs By Potter
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