"MY OWN FAVORITE AMONGST MY LITTLE BOOKS": TAILOR OF GLOUCESTER, ONE OF ONLY 500 PRIVATELY PRINTED COPIES, WONDERFUL ASSOCIATION COPY

POTTER, Beatrix. The Tailor of Gloucester. London: Privately printed for the author, December, 1902. 12mo, original pictorial pink boards. Housed in a custom clamshell box.

True first edition, one of only 500 privately printed copies, of Potter's second book, which she called "my own favorite amongst my little books," with frontispiece and 15 illustrations in color, three of which do not appear in the first trade edition of October, 1903. A wonderful association copy, with a gift inscription to Margaret Lane, Potter's first biographer, from Leslie Linder, who first decoded Potter's secret writing, written in both English and Potter's secret code.

Inspired by a real-life incident involving a tailor's efforts to finish a waistcoat for the new mayor of Gloucester, this book "was Potter's own favorite of all her stories, and one can see why, for in it she indulges her own fascination with the era of her grandparents and great-grandparents… Fairy tale, nursery rhyme and Arcadian fantasy all come together for a moment in perfect balance. No wonder Beatrix Potter was proud of the book" (Carpenter, 148). "Evidently with some regret, Beatrix Potter [deleted from the first trade edition] eight or nine pages of text [which appear in this edition] where she had described in detail how Simpkin wandered through the streets of Gloucester on the night of Christmas Eve, when all the animals were talking and the carol singers were singing. This is the part of the story which contained the majority of her rhymes and verses" (Linder 117). Quinby 3. Linder, 420. Tipped to the front endpapers are gift inscriptions from Leslie Linder to Margaret Lane, dated 1966. Engineer Leslie Linder wrote numerous books on Potter and is well-known for being the first to decipher the code in which Potter wrote in her journals; the Potter collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum was donated principally by Linder. Recipient Margaret Lane was the first biographer of Potter, also publishing numerous works on her. The inscription, in both English and Potter's secret code, reads: "For Margaret Lane as a token of appreciation for her generous gift of Potter's 1875 Sketch Book, and for the other Beatrix Potter items. from Leslie Linder, 19-3-66."

Interior fine, a bit of toning to fragile original boards and a few spots to fore-edge. An extremely good copy with a wonderful provenance.