Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Price: US$288.60 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: Wrappers. Edition limited to 250 numbered copies (and 25 copies hors commerce) signed by Maurice Sendak and by Iain Bain, who supervised the project; this copy unnumbered and unsigned, from the library of Iain Bain and with proofs, printed in black and numbered in pencil by Bain, of 32 of 34 of the prints that accompanied the monograph (the edition as published issued each image, printed in brown on handmade paper and in its own folder, the 34 in a folding box). Those lacking are 13, "Whom should he meet but Mr. Macgregor", and 34, "Bread and milk and blackberries for supper" (Bain's pencil numbering, to 42, does not correspond with that in the printed monograph). "No doubt," writes Sendak, "Beatrix Potter would have bristled at my quick association to Jane Austen when first examining these extraordinary images reproduced here: restrikes of all the surviving linecut zinc plates (34 of a total 42) that were used for printing the original 1901 private edition of The Tale of Peter Rabbit. She would have mocked my 'fanciful' connection. Potter had a firm, steady, but modest view of her own talents. She was also known to write furious, even rude letters to gushing admirers, such as the one to poor Janet Adam Smith in 1943 which witheringly concludes: '. . . And for goodness sake dont write any more rubbish about me . . .'"
Seller: James Fergusson Books & Manuscripts, London, United Kingdom
Price: US$700.00 + shipping
Condition: As New
Description: One of only 250 numbered copies, with the introductory booklet signed by Sendak and Iain Bain, who oversaw the production of this limited edition. Includes 34 prints prepared from the blocks used in the original 1901 edition. Each print is 16mo (4 by 5 inches) in a titled and numbered folder. The limitation number and block number are recorded in pencil on the verso of each print. Accompanied by the introductory booklet of 20 pages plus an inventory of the plates. The whole preserved in a slate blue cloth-covered clamshell case with a paper spine label and an inset vignette to the front board. As new.
Seller: The Literary Lion,Ltd., Thousand Oaks, CA, U.S.A.
Price: US$850.00 + shipping
Description: These boxed prints are from the original blocks that were made for first private edition of 1901, including images that did not get included in the commercial publication. There are 34 gorgeously done prints, brown ink on 100% cotton, acid free paper. Each printed image has a tissue guard and is enclosed in its own gray folder, with a number and an excerpt of text printed on it. There is also a separate booklet with an introduction by Maurice Sendak included. It is all contained in an original slate blue cloth-covered clamshell box. It is a limited edition print of 250 copies, this copy is number 33. All prints are accounted for and undamaged, each print has a folder and guard.
Seller: Eclectibles, ABAA, Tolland, CT, U.S.A.
Price: US$1391.50 + shipping
Description: First edition thus, number XXI of XXV hors commerce copies, from an overall limitation of 250 copies; 16mo; comprising printed introductory booklet signed & numbered in pencil by Maurice Sendak, with additional pencil signature of printing historian Iain Bain, in original printed wrappers, 34 line block illustrations printed in brown ink on Arches paper, each with pencil limitation details and printed monogram of Alecto Historical Editions on verso, with tissue guard, each loose in separate printed card sleeve; together housed in original cloth drop-back box with inset illustration on upper cover and gilt label on spine, a fine copy. An excellent production reproducing 34 of the original 41 plain illustrations from the edition of The Tale of Peter Rabbit privately printed by Beatrix Potter in 1901. This edition was produced & designed by Iain Bain with Alecto Historical Editions, co-ordinated by bookseller Justin G.Schiller, and features an original appreciation by renowned Beatrix Potter expert and children's book author & illustrator Maurice Sendak.
Seller: Shapero Rare Books, London, United Kingdom