The Tale of Benjamin Bunny.

POTTER, Beatrix.

Item Number: 122984

London: Frederick Warne and Co, 1904.

First edition of the fourth sequel to Potter’s immensely successful The Tale of Peter Rabbit which was an instant commercial success in its own right, with ‘muffatees’ for ‘muffetees’ on page 15. 12mo, original boards with pictorial onlay to the front panel, pictorial endpapers, illustrated. In very good condition. A nice example.

In 1903, Potter and her publisher decided her next book should be less complicated than her previous productions, and in Benjamin Bunny she created a simple, didactic tale for young children. The book's masterful illustrations were based upon the several gardens at the Lake District estate of Fawe Park, where Potter spent the summer of 1903. She was sensitive to the openings and endings of her books, and insisted Benjamin Bunny finish with the words "rabbit-tobacco", a term she appropriated from the Uncle Remus stories by Joel Chandler Harris, one of her literary heroes. Benjamin Bunny was an instant commercial and popular success, and thousands of copies were in print by the end of 1904. The Times Literary Supplement thought Potter's illustrations "pencil perfect", but suggested that she engage a literary assistant for future productions. Potter created a nursery wallpaper tapping Benjamin's image, and Benjamin returned as an adult rabbit in the Flopsy Bunnies and Mr. Tod. In 1992, Benjamin Bunny was adapted as an episode of the BBC animated television series, The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends.