Roly-Poly Pudding, The

London: Frederick Warne & Co., 1908. First Edition of “The Roly-Poly Pudding”

POTTER, Beatrix. The Roly-Poly Pudding. London: Frederick Warne & Co., 1908.

First edition, first printing (October 1908), with the year 1908 and the words “All rights reserved” at the bottom of the title-page.

Small quarto (7 7/8 x 6 1/4 inches; 200 x 158 mm.). [8], 69, [1] pp. Color frontispiece, color pictorial title, and seventeen full-page color illustrations. Thirty-eight black and white vignettes in the text.

Publisher's red cloth (with mixed light and dark threads) over beveled boards. Front cover stamped and lettered (truncated) in light green and gilt and spine lettered in light green. Color pictorial label on front cover within a rectangular blind panel outlined in blind and with a light green single rule border. Color pictorial endpapers (Quinby Plates V and VI).

Neat previous ownership ink inscription on verso of frontispiece. A near fine copy.

The narrative unfolds with Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit, a worried mother, searching for her mischievous son, Tom Kitten, who has decided to hide in the chimney on baking day. Meanwhile, rats Samuel Whiskers and Anna Maria plot to turn Tom into a delicious roly-poly pudding after capturing him.

Beatrix's visual homage to the farmhouse at Hill Top, recognizable even now, room by room, to anyone who has read the book and visits. The story was at least partly inspired by the real rat problem that beset the property, and features the further adventures of Tom Kitten. The book was republished as The Tale of Samuel Whiskers in the small format of the series in 1926.

Linder, p. 427. Quinby 15. V & A 1552. (Inventory #: 06102)