The History of the Tale of Peter Rabbit

Published to celebrate the seventy-fifth birthday of Beatrix Potter's famous creation, The History of the Tale of Peter Rabbit is, as its subtitle indicates, taken mainly from Leslie Linder's A History of the Writings of Beatrix Potter, "but adapted a little to suit the plan of this book," editor Ann Emerson notes.

The material found on pp. 9-10 (HTPR) corresponds to material found on p. 4 of Lender's book. The last paragraph on p. 10 (HTPR) is taken from p. 92 of Linder. There follows the illustrated letter to Noel Moore, pp. 11-18 (HTPR) which can be found on pp. 7-14 of Linder. "The History of the Books," beginning on p. 19 corresponds to p. 93, Linder, although some of Linder's text is occasionally deleted.

On p. 30 (HTPR) three letters found in Linder, pp. 104-05, are omitted. On p. 34 (HTPR) the material corresponds to that found on p. 109 of Linder, but beginning with the third paragraph, the material draws on p. 264 of the Linder volume. Some information found on p. 265 of Linder is omitted but new information about translations is added. P. 37 (HTPR) contains all new material not found in Linder.

The most significant new material found in this small commemorative volume is a reproduction of the illustrations for the first privately printed edition of The Tale of Peter Rabbit with a text which has been reset for reasons of space. As the editor notes : "Few people have had the opportunity of seeing Beatrix Potter's privately printed edition and comparing it with the Warne edition . . . ." The drawings for the private edition are black line drawings; in addition, there are eight color plates of Peter Rabbit illustrations in the book, some of which have been omitted from The Tale of Peter Rabbit since the fourth printing.

On p. 60 (HTPR) a picture of the miniature letters Beatrix Potter sent to children she knew corresponds to p. 83 (Linder) but the letters are rearranged. The History of the Tale of Peter Rabbit concludes with a postscript added by Ann Emerson, senior editor at Warne and an authority on Potter, summarizing the further adventures of Peter as he appears in other Potter books.

Though it repeats much of the material found in Linder's comprehensive work, this book is still an excellent addition to any Beatrix Potter collection because of its inclusion of the drawings for the private edition of Peter Rabbit and because it presents in compact form significant information about one of the world's most famous rabbits.