The Tale of Mr. Tod.

London and New York: Frederick Warne and Co.,, 1912. First edition, first or second impression, with the publication year on the title page; the first two impressions are identical. This story stands out in Potter's oeuvre as a longer, darker tale, in which the two protagonists - the badger and the fox - are both villains. The book opens with the narrator stating: "I have made many books about well-behaved people. Now, for a change, I am going to make a story about two disagreeable people". This opening "was one that [Potter] was particularly proud of, since it got away from the familiar setting of 'once upon a time'. It also highlighted her mood and her approach to this last book set at Sawrey... The forty-two pen and ink sketches in Mr. Tod are deliberately framed by heavy lines, making them resemble woodcuts. They give the violent story a primitive quality suited to the atmosphere of primal enmity" (Lear, pp. 245-6). Sextodecimo (137 x 102 mm). Recent green half morocco, spine with raised bands, gilt lettering and decoration in compartments, original paper-covered boards, colour pictorial onlay on front cover, original pictorial front endpapers, new rear endpapers. With colour frontispiece and 14 similar plates, numerous black and white illustrations in text, all by the author. Occasional small marks and light fingersoiling to contents, else clean. A very good copy, attractively bound. Linder p. 429; Quinby 21. Linda Lear, Beatrix Potter: A Life in Nature, 2007.