The Original Tales

The Tale of the Pie and the Patty-Pan

Name: The Tale of the Pie and the Patty-Pan
Author: Beatrix Potter

By Beatrix Potter · First published 1905

Ribby the cat invites Duchess the dog to tea. Duchess accepts — but secretly worries that the pie may be a mouse-pie, which she would rather not eat. So she devises a plan: swap the pies in advance. Things do not go to plan. Patty-pans get involved. So does Dr. Maggotty the magpie.

Beatrix had drafted an earlier version of this story in 1903 (called Something very very NICE), but found the plot too thin. She rewrote it entirely in the summer of 1905, keeping the same characters but tightening the comedy. Frederick Warne agreed to a larger format — slightly bigger pictures, finer detail, the first of her tales to break out of the standard small size.

"The Pie and the Patty-Pan roams about the village of Sawrey," wrote Margaret Lane, "lingering over the tiger-lilies and snapdragons in cottage gardens, glancing into parlours and kitchens." Duchess was a real Pomeranian, owned by Mrs. Rogerson at Lakefield Cottage. Dr. Maggotty was sketched at the London Zoo.

The cover shown is the original edition. Amazon carries the copies in print today.

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For collectors

First Edition Notes

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Particulars

Trade edition: October 1905, Frederick Warne & Co.
Setting: Village of Sawrey (and the early form of Hill Top, before its 1906 extension)
Dedication: "For Joan, to read to Baby" (Joan and Beatrix Moore)
Original draft: 1903, titled Something very very NICE — rewritten in 1905
Format: Larger than the standard little books — first of the bigger format

Curiosities

❦The 1903 draft and the 1905 published book share a setting and characters but not a plot. Beatrix kept Ribby and Duchess — and threw everything else out.
❦Mrs. Rogerson owned two Pomeranians — Duchess and a better-looking one called Darkie. Beatrix used Darkie as the painting model but kept Duchess's character: "I had actually seen Duchess begging with the sugar on her nose, waiting until nine had been counted before she touched it."
❦Warne thought no Pomeranian could have such a mane. Beatrix sent them a photograph to prove they could.
❦Beatrix's sketchbook notes for Dr. Maggotty record "very blue and green" feathers, a "brown black eye, nose a little hookier than jackdaw, less feathered," and that the magpie's tail was "more than half" of his overall length.
❦Cousin Stephanie remembered being allowed, as a child, to put red paint on the cushion beneath Duchess in one of the pictures. "I wonder if she took it off again," said Stephanie.