“EVERY ANECDOTE IS FACT—EXCEPT MAYBE: THE FAIRIES!”

POTTER, Beatrix. The Fairy Caravan. Philadelphia: David McKay, (1929). Octavo, original green cloth, mounted cover illustration, custom chemise. $1200.

First trade edition, illustrated with six color plates and numerous ink drawings by the author.

The Fairy Caravan grew out of publisher Alexander McKay's request for a story he could distribute privately to friends. The book is unique among Potter's writings because it draws heavily on the author's own life. She later wrote that the story was "too personal-too autobiographical," and that "every anecdote is fact-except possibly: the fairies!" Many of the characters were based on her own animals, and the story unfolds in and around Potter's Castle Cottage. Her illustrations also reveal glimpses into her private world. The frontispiece, "Louisa Pussy Cat Sleeps Late," depicts Potter's own cat asleep on the bed she inherited from her grandmother ("How often I have sat up in the bed listening to the nightingales!"). Issued the same year as the signed limited edition and an English signed limited edition of 100 bound from American sheets (no priority established). Without scarce original dust jacket. Linder, 292-308. Quinby 29a. Owner bookstamp, signature.

Interior fine, only very minor wear to front cover illustration. A lovely about-fine copy.