A Portfolio of Art Prints, with a Peter Rabbit sketch by MAURICE SENDAK
The Tale of Peter Rabbit. A Portfolio of Art Prints from the original illustration line-blocks made for the First Private Edition (1901), with an introduction by Maurice SENDAK.
Kingston NY: Battledore Ltd, 1995. ISBN# 0-9627110-5-5.
Comprising Thirty-four separate prints (using all surviving blocks of 42) from the original Beatrix Potter designs, re-struck in brown ink on mould-made deckle-edged 100% cotton acid free paper, limited to 275 numbered sets, each print individually certified with a stamp on its reverse by Alecto Historical Editions. Square 16mo, accompanied by a separate booklet with an original essay written by Maurice Sendak in appreciation of these images and signed by him. Letterpress-printed (23pp + colophon), hand-sewn printed wrappers; the whole boxed together in gray cloth folding case, the front blocked with the same image on the front cover as that used on the privately printed first edition. Also signed by historical block specialist Iain Bain who supervised and designed this project.
SPECIAL COPY with original drawing: this copy includes an original pencil sketch by Maurice Sendak of his own interpretation of Peter Rabbit wearing his jacket; the drawing measures 1-3/8″ (3.5 cm.) height and is under the artist’s signature (verso title) on the colophon page. Also with an additional print from a Beatrix Potter line-block: “Come dance a jig, to my Granny’s pig”, the design from the 1890s illustrating a nursery rhyme, and perhaps also intended as a design for a Christmas Card. Measuring 6-1/2 x 9 inches, the print comes in its own printed folder with separate descriptive commentary by Anne Stevenson Hobbs; only 125 copies were printed as a bonus to pre-publication subscribers of the Peter Rabbit Art Prints portfolio.