Six publishers said no. Some wanted the illustrations in colour. Some wanted the book longer. Some wanted it shorter. One wanted poetry. Frederick Warne & Co. — the firm that would eventually publish all her books — was among the six who turned it down.
Beatrix Potter was thirty-five years old. She had been trying to find a publisher for the better part of a year. She withdrew her savings and printed it herself.
Six No's
She had first written the Peter Rabbit story in a picture letter to Noel Moore in 1893. By 1900 she was ready to try to publish it as a book, and she began sending the manuscript out — to publishers suggested by Bertram, by her friends the Woodward sisters, and by Hardwicke Rawnsley.
They all sent it back.
Rawnsley, trying to help, rewrote the text in verse — one publisher had asked for poetry, and he thought that was the problem. She had to quietly undo what he had done. Her own view was plain: she would rather produce two or three small books priced at a shilling each than one large expensive one, because she thought children couldn't afford six shillings and wouldn't buy it. The publishers were not persuaded.
Strangeways
By the summer of 1901 she had run out of patience. She found a printer — Strangeways & Sons in Tower Street, London — and placed an order for 250 copies of what she was now simply calling The Tale of Peter Rabbit. The black-and-white illustrations were turned into printing plates by a firm in Fetter Lane. The colour picture at the front of the book was printed separately by an engraver in Fleet Street. She ordered 500 of those in case she needed a quick reprint.
The whole job cost about £11.
On 16 December 1901 the books were ready. She wrote to Warne — who had been one of the six rejections — to let them know:
"I think Strangeways have printed it rather nicely. It is going off very well amongst my friends & relations, 5 at a time; I will spread it about as much as I can, especially in Manchester. Had you decided not to go on with it, I would certainly have done so myself, it has given me so much amusement."
She was not asking for anything. She was reporting a fact.
Going Off Very Well
The privately printed edition sold out almost immediately. A second printing of 200 copies followed in February 1902.
A bookshop in Kensington asked to put it in the window. She declined — she was not quite ready for that — but she was clearly tempted. Arthur Conan Doyle, the author of the Sherlock Holmes stories, received a copy for his children and said he had a good opinion of both the story and the writing. By April she was writing to Norman Warne: "The book seems to go on of itself, I had requests for 9 copies yesterday from 3 people I do not know."
She had done what the publishers said couldn't work. The book was finding its readers.
Warne Comes Back
Frederick Warne & Co. came back to her in late 1901 with an offer — but with conditions. They would publish it — but the illustrations needed to be in colour throughout, and the number of pictures reduced from forty-two to thirty-two. The text, they said, should stay as plain prose rather than verse.
She agreed to all of it. She had her own conditions.
The Copyright Question
Her letter to Warne accepting their offer is not the letter of someone grateful to be published. It is the letter of someone who had already sold 250 copies on her own and wanted to understand the terms clearly.
"Speaking for myself I consider your terms very liberal as regards royalty; but I do not quite understand about the copyright. Do you propose that the copyright remains mine; you agreeing to print an edition of 5,000, and having — as part of the agreement — the option of printing more editions if required? I must apologise for not understanding, but I would like to be clear about it. For instance who would the copyright belong to in the event of your not wishing to print a second edition?"
She was thirty-five, had no formal business training, had never published a book commercially, and had just asked a publisher to specify exactly what happened to her copyright if they chose not to reprint. The question was precise and polite, and it required a direct answer.
Warne answered it. The copyright stayed hers.
October 1902
Frederick Warne & Co. published The Tale of Peter Rabbit commercially in October 1902. The first print run was 8,000 copies. It sold out before Christmas. A second printing of 8,000 followed almost immediately.
She had said from the start what she wanted: small books, priced at a shilling, because children couldn't afford expensive ones. That is exactly what Warne published — a small book that children could hold in both hands.
Leave a Visiting Card
Consulting the visiting cards...