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The Tale of Mrs. Tittlemouse

Book
1910 (published), 1918 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Printed book, 58 pages. Case binding of blue paper over boards. Title, author and publisher blocked in white on upper cover ("Mrs. Tittlemouse" and colour paper onlay removed). Strip of blue paper pasted onto spine hides title underneath. Three-colour-process endpapers of one double-page design occurring twice (front and back).

Experimental dummy book produced by Warne in 1918 in preparation for the publication of The tale of Johnny Town-mouse. Carbon copy of Warne's typescript of Beatrix Potter's mss has been cut up and pasted into a copy of The tale of Mrs Tittlemouse (not a first edition). Text of The tale of Mrs. Tittlemouse is hidden underneath the cut-out typescripts pasted on top. Illustrations for The tale of Mrs. Tittlemouse remain visible but annotated in ink underneath by Warne to indicate order of illustrations for The tale of Johnny Town-mouse. Warne has also annotated pages in ink to indicate half-title page, dedication page, frontispiece and title-page. Half-title, written by Warne, reads: "The Tale / of / Timmy Willie". Title page reads: "The Tale of / Timmy Willie / By / Beatrix Potter / author of / "The Tale of Peter Rabbit" etc. / London / Frederick Warne Co. / and New York / 1918 / [all rights reserved]." Title amended by Beatrix Potter to "The tale of a country mouse". Typescript annotated throughout by Beatrix Potter.

Object details

Categories
Object type
Titles
  • The Tale of Mrs. Tittlemouse (published title)
  • The Tale of Johnny Town-Mouse (assigned by artist)
  • The Tale of Timmie Willie (assigned by artist)
Materials and techniques
Three-colour relief halftone and letterpress in paper covered, and blocked case binding. Carbon copy of typescript pasted in. Ink annotations.
Brief description
Book, The Tale of Mrs. Tittlemouse, by Beatrix Potter, published in London by Frederick Warne. Used as a working copy by Beatrix Potter when planning The Tale of Johnny Town-Mouse, 1918. Linder Bequest catalogue no. LB 1737. NAL accession no. BP.207.
Physical description
Printed book, 58 pages. Case binding of blue paper over boards. Title, author and publisher blocked in white on upper cover ("Mrs. Tittlemouse" and colour paper onlay removed). Strip of blue paper pasted onto spine hides title underneath. Three-colour-process endpapers of one double-page design occurring twice (front and back).

Experimental dummy book produced by Warne in 1918 in preparation for the publication of The tale of Johnny Town-mouse. Carbon copy of Warne's typescript of Beatrix Potter's mss has been cut up and pasted into a copy of The tale of Mrs Tittlemouse (not a first edition). Text of The tale of Mrs. Tittlemouse is hidden underneath the cut-out typescripts pasted on top. Illustrations for The tale of Mrs. Tittlemouse remain visible but annotated in ink underneath by Warne to indicate order of illustrations for The tale of Johnny Town-mouse. Warne has also annotated pages in ink to indicate half-title page, dedication page, frontispiece and title-page. Half-title, written by Warne, reads: "The Tale / of / Timmy Willie". Title page reads: "The Tale of / Timmy Willie / By / Beatrix Potter / author of / "The Tale of Peter Rabbit" etc. / London / Frederick Warne Co. / and New York / 1918 / [all rights reserved]." Title amended by Beatrix Potter to "The tale of a country mouse". Typescript annotated throughout by Beatrix Potter.
Dimensions
  • Height: 15 (cm) (Note: rounded to nearest cm on library catalogue)
Credit line
Linder Bequest [plus object number; written on labels on the same line as the object number]
Object history
Acquired by the V&A from Leslie Linder (1904-1973) in 1973 as part of the Linder Bequest, a collection of ca. 2150 watercolours, drawings, literary manuscripts, correspondence, books, photographs, and other memorabilia associated with Beatrix Potter and her family.
Experimental dummy book produced by Warne in 1918 in preparation for the publication of The tale of Johnny Town-mouse. Carbon copy of Warne's typescript of Beatrix Potter's mss has been cut up and pasted into a copy of The tale of Mrs Tittlemouse (not a first edition).
Bibliographic reference
Hobbs, Anne Stevenson, and Joyce Irene Whalley, eds. Beatrix Potter: the V & A collection : the Leslie Linder bequest of Beatrix Potter material : watercolours, drawings, manuscripts, books, photographs and memorabilia. London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1985. Hobbs, Anne Stevenson, and Joyce Irene Whalley, eds. Beatrix Potter: the V & A collection: the Leslie Linder bequest of Beatrix Potter material: watercolours, drawings, manuscripts, books, photographs and memorabilia. London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1985.
Other numbers
  • LB.1737 - Linder Bequest catalogue no.
  • BP.207 - NAL accession number
Collection
Library number
38041005058128

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Record createdDecember 4, 2019
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