THE TALE OF BENJAMIN BUNNY

London and New York: Frederick Warne and Co, 1904. Very good plus.. First edition, first issue of the story of PETER RABBIT's badly-behaved cousin, and the pair's quest to retrieve Peter's lost clothes. "I sometimes feel afraid that the TAILOR and NUTKIN are rather too ingenious and complicated compared with PETER RABBIT," wrote Beatrix Potter to her publisher Norman Warne, "Don't you think the next one ought to be more simple?" (Linder, 143). Thus came THE TALE OF BENJAMIN BUNNY, Potter's fourth publication, resuming the misadventures of Peter and his family. Benjamin, named after Potter's own pet rabbit, took some of of his naughty personality from his real-life counterpart: Potter recalls how he would be "at one moment amiably sentimental to the verge of silliness, at the next... a demon, throwing himself onto his back" (Linder, 148). 5.5'' x 4''. Original light brown paper boards with color pictorial center panel and green lettering. Color decorative endpapers of other Beatrix Potter characters. Illustrated in color throughout. 86 pages. Prize inscription to half-title page, "Eva Williams / February 1905 / A Prize for English Essay." Binding with a bit of bumping to corners and spine ends, a touch of wear to boards; shallow 1" split to front joint. Binding cracked to one opening. A bright copy.