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Expert: James Edward Kelley - 2/10/2012


Question
Beatrix Potter book
Beatrix Potter book  
Hello,
I have a copy of "The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle" by Beatrix Potter.  I am trying to determine what edition and what printing it is and when it was published.  I've attached an image that shows 4 views of the book.  I've been able to determine that the illustrations on the endpapers, referred to as the Quinby Plates, are used to determine which edition it is, but I don't know how to do that.  Also I've determined that the copyright date of 1905 does not necessarily mean that that was when this particular edition was published.  The dimensions of the book are 4 3/8" x 5 1/2".  Can you help?
Thank you,
Jim

Answer
Hi, Jim.

It looks like you may have a First Edition printing of "The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle".  The Copyright date of 1905 was when the book was published in this case and the month, in fact, of publication was either October or November as there were two printings that year, one in each month.  The October 1905 edition comprised of 10,000 copies printed and the November 1905 edition was comprised of 20,000 printings.  So you either have the October or November one with it most likely being the November as the dimensions you gave me were different than the October, but so close (the October edition was 5.5 inches X 4.1 inches) that it might be an October edition.  I'm sorry that I couldn't be more accurate with this answer, but I do hope I helped you.

James

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James Edward Kelley

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I am willing to answer any questions about books except those regarding Fantasy, Self-Help and Evangelical/Fundamentalist Christian literature. I no longer evaluate the financial worth of books as it is impossible to evaluate them in good faith without physically seeing the book itself. I'm sorry about the inconvenience.

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I am an author. I won the Henry Fonda Young Playwright's Award for the state of Connecticut for the first play I ever wrote. I have been commissioned to write two plays for Brown University's Rites & Reason Theatre. I have a short story published in an on-line literary magazine called "Slurve". I am often published in the Mensa Bulletin. Former Poet Laureate of Portugal, Jose Brites, has shown interest in publishing a collection of my poetry. At the age of 21, I was invited to speak at University of Nebraska at Omaha's International Third World Studies & Review Conference. I was the youngest speaker there. Not even having earned my Bachelor's Degree at the time, I was in the company of PhD.'s and experts from around the globe.

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I have been allowed to take free writing courses at Brown University. I also have a Bachelor's Degree in Philosophy.

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