Rare Book Monthly
Book Catalogue Reviews - February - 2004 Issue
Heritage Book Shop’s California<br>Book Fair 2004 Catalogue
Heritage Book Shop’s California Book Fair Catalogue.
This catalogue includes many of the greatest classics among children’s books. Item 274 is the first published edition of Beatrix Potter’s classic The Tale of Peter Rabbit. It’s been just over a century now since young Peter first ventured into Mr. McGregor’s garden, and he’s still entertaining children today. I wonder how many descendants of his own he must have by now. After all, he was a rabbit. $18,500. Peter’s barnyard contemporary, Jemima Puddle-Duck, never reached quite the same heights of popularity, so a first of The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck is priced at $7,500.
Item 242 is a set of four first editions from A.A. Milne. Milne was the creator of Winnie the Pooh and Christopher Robin’s other stuffed friends. The books in this collection are When We Were Very Young (1924), Winnie-the-Pooh (1926), Now We Are Six (1927), and The House at Pooh Corner (1928). $8,000. Item 243 is a copy of The House at Pooh Corner signed by both Milne and illustrator Ernest Shepard. $6,000.
Not all classics are that old. Here’s a first from the incomparable Dr. Seuss, published in 1960: One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish. Item 316. $600. And then there’s the sad tale of the egomaniacal Yertle the Turtle. You remember how “King” Yertle made all those other poor turtles stand on each other’s backs so he could stand atop them all. Of course, Yertle’s house of turtles collapsed, and with that, all his subjects were free, “as all creatures should be.” Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories. 1958. Item 317. $550.
Here’s a book that undoubtedly has been read by more children than any of those above. In fact, it is the second most printed book ever, trailing only the Bible (which had a 500-year head start). It is the Quotations of Chairman Mao, more commonly known as Mao’s “Little Red Book.” This is a first edition, first state, and was not for sale as it was issued to the military. Heritage estimates that it has gone on to be printed over a billion times. $30,000.
