Lot Details
Lot 73
POTTER, BEATRIX The Fairy Caravan.
Philadelphia: David McKay, 1929 [but the first 9 leaves printed at Ambleside, UK]. First edition, the copyright issue. Original cloth backed boards lettered in dark green. 8 7/8 x 6 5/8 inches (22.5 x 17 cm); 6 color plates and in text illustrations after Potter, 225 pp., the first 9 pages printed on cream-colored watermarked paper per Quinby. Upper joint with a slight tear, vertical crease to spine, corners lightly rubbed, endleaves toned, internally fine.
Provenance: The Mildred Greenhill - H. Bradley Martin copy with their booklabels; sold Sotheby's New York, 31 January 1990, lot 2445, and purchased on behalf of Mary K. Young
Exhibited: Beatrix Potter and Peter Rabbit: A Centenary Celebration from the Collection of Grolier Club Members, The Grolier Club, New York, 14 November 2001-11 January 2002
The first American editions (trade and limited) were published by David McKay of Philadelphia in 1929, and Potter initially had no plans to issue an equivalent English edition. However, in order to retain English copyright, she was required to publish a corresponding English edition in some form. Potter had McKay ship her a hundred sets of the US sheets, and then apparently had a local printer prepare a new preliminary signature (plus half-title, the ninth leaf noted, and some copies contain a tipped-in signed limitation leaf, not present here). Instead of the dedication leaf, there was now a drawing of Potter's dogs, not found in the U.S. edition. The whole was bound in a rather undistinguished fashion. The first published UK edition (this edition was never formally issued, most being given as gifts by Potter), did not appear until 1952.
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C The Mary K. Young Collection
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