THE TALE OF PETER RABBIT by Potter, Beatrix - 1907

London and New York: Frederick Warne and Co, 1907. Very good plus.. First deluxe edition of this genre-defining title, which made Beatrix Potter a household name - in scarce binding variant. PETER RABBIT began life in 1893, as a story letter that Beatrix Potter wrote to the child of a friend, Noel. Potter collector and biographer Leslie Linder describes how, a few years after Potter sent the letter, she realized that she "might make a little book out of the story, and she wrote to ask if Noel had kept the letter, and if so could she borrow it?" The rest, of course, is history, as her "little book" became one of the most beloved stories in the world. Linder notes that "In the autumn of 1907, a new set of [illustration] blocks was made, and two of the drawings are slightly different;" indeed, the illustrations on pages 68 and 81 of the present copy differ slightly from the first edition. This deluxe edition is not noted in Jane Quinby's Potter bibliography, despite it being the first appearance of these altered illustrations. A lovely and unusual copy. 5.5'' x 4.25''. Original green cloth binding with gilt lettering and embellishment, with color pictorial paste-on. All edges gilt. Endpapers with illustrations of other Beatrix Potter animal characters. Illustrated in color. 86 pages. In custom velvet-lined clamshell box with gilt lettering to spine. Ownership inscription to front pastedown dated "Feb 1908." Tiny bookseller's stamp, "Cole's Book Arcade," to front pastedown. Gift inscription to blank following half-title page, dated "Feb. 1908." Front hinge expertly repaired. Binding with mild scuffing to boards, spine ends and corners bumped. Front hinge repaired, occasional soiling to margins of leaves. Sound and bright.