I have been in the rare and antiquarian book business for over forty years; my family has been in the rare books business since 1876. Rare books are in my blood.
Story of a Fierce Bad Rabbit, The
London & New York: Frederick Warne & Co., 1906. Item #06256
Beatrix Potter’s “Fierce Bad Rabbit” Panorama
POTTER, Beatrix. The Story of a Fierce Bad Rabbit. London & New York: Frederick Warne & Co., [1906].
First edition, first issue (printed November 1906), with “London & New York” on the back of the wallet and with lavender marbled endpapers.
Oblong twelvemo (3 3/4 x 4 1/2 inches; 95 x 114 mm.). With fourteen color illustrations separated by fourteen pages of text printed in green. Mounted on pale green linen back and folded accordion style into the original gray green cloth wallet-style case. Color pictorial label on front outer flap. A near fine copy.
“At the beginning of 1906 when working on The Tale of Mr. Jeremy Fisher, Beatrix Potter was also planning some stories for very young children. Each story contained fourteen pictures and fourteen pages of simple text. The pictures and text were arranged in pairs and were in panoramic form, mounted a long strip of linen, and folded concertina-wise into a wallet with a tuck-in flap. Three stories were written in this form—The Story of a Fierce Bad Rabbit, The Story of Miss Moppet, and The Sly Old Cat; but only the first two were published. The Story of a Fierce Bad Rabbit was written specially for Harold Warne’s little girl, Louie, who had told Aunt Beatrix that Peter was much too good a rabbit, and she wanted a story about a really naughty one!” (Linder, p. 183).
One of only two Peter Rabbit books aimed at younger children and issued in concertina-style format (see lot 17; a third, The Sly Old Cat, was planned but not published in the author's lifetime); the pair were reissued in a format uniform with the rest of the popular series after booksellers complained about the book being too easily damaged by perusing children and adults.
The Story of a Fierce Bad Rabbit was written for Harold Warne's daughter, Louie, who had complained to the author that Peter Rabbit was much too good a rabbit, and she wanted a story about a really naughty one.
Linder, p. 426. Quinby 12.
Price: $2,250.00