1911 Rare PETER PAN First Edition - PETER and WENDY by James Matthew Barrie illustrated by F.D. Bedford.
Author: Barrie, J. M.; F. D. Bedford (illustrator).
Title: Peter and Wendy.
Language: Text in English.
Publisher: New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1911 - First Edition, First Printing, with "Published October 1911" and the Scribner seal present on the copyright page.
Size : 8 "X 6 ".
Pages: 267 pages.
Binding: Very good and attractive full cloth binding (hinges fine, overall slightly worn and scuffed with very bright gilt decorations - as shown) under a removable mylar cover.
Content: Good content (tight, and clean, some foxing - as shown, some light staining on the outer margin of some illustrations - as shown, name of a previous owner on the first endpaper - as shown).
Illustrations: Complete with the wonderful 12 full-page plates by F. D. Bedford.
Estimation : (USD 1200 - USD 2000)
The book: Rare and attractive First American edition of Peter Pan; or, the Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up or Peter and Wendy is J. M. Barrie's most famous work, in the form of a 1904 play and a 1911 novel. Both versions tell Peter Pan, a mischievous little boy who can fly, and his adventures on the island of Neverland with Wendy Darling and her brothers, the fairy Tinker Bell, the Lost Boys, the Indian princess Tiger Lily, and the pirate Captain Hook. Barrie's friendship inspired the play and novel with the Llewelyn Davies family. Barrie continued to revise the play for years after its debut; the novel reflects one version of the story. A rare find in any condition!
The author: Sir James Matthew Barrie, 1st Baronet, OM (9 May 1860 – 19 June 1937) was a Scottish author and dramatist, best remembered today as the creator of Peter Pan. The child of a family of small-town weavers, he was educated in Scotland. He moved to London, where he developed a career as a novelist and playwright. There he met the Llewelyn Davies boys who inspired him in writing about a baby boy who has magical adventures in Kensington Gardens (included in The Little White Bird), then to write Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up, a "fairy play" about this ageless boy and an ordinary girl named Wendy who have adventures in the fantasy setting of Neverland. This play quickly overshadowed his previous work, and although he continued to write successfully, it became his best-known work, credited with popularising the name Wendy, which was very uncommon previously. Barrie unofficially adopted the Davies boys following the deaths of their parents. Barrie was made a baronet by George V in 1913, and a member of the Order of Merit in 1922. Before his death, he gave the rights to the Peter Pan works to London's Great Ormond Street Hospital, which continues to benefit from them.
The Illustrator: Francis Donkin Bedford (1864–1954), also known as F. D. Bedford, was a British artist and illustrator. He was born in Notting Hill and lived in London. He painted genre scenes and exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1892.
Bedford's works include illustrations for A Book of Nursery Rhymes (1897), The Books of Shops (1899), Four and Twenty Toilers (1900), The Visit to London (1902), Forgotten Tales of Long Ago (1906), Runaways and Castaways (1908), Peter and Wendy (1911), The Magic Fishbone (1921), Under the Tree (1922), A Christmas Carol (1923), and The Cricket on the Hearth (1927).