Peter, A Cat o’ One Tail, His Life and Adventures

First edition, first printing (preceding publication in the US in the same year). 88p, with charming Louis Wain black and white illustrations throughout. In blue cloth-covered boards, faded around edges and on spine, a little rubbed at rounded at spine ends and corners, lightly soiled. Mild discolouration on endpapers and little spotting and fingering but generally bright and clean internally. A beautiful butterfly has been painted onto the dedication page but has leached slightly onto the opposite page. Gutter strained between front free endpaper and title page. Hard to find – not held in the British Library, COPAC reveals two holdings only. One of Wain’s earliest publications in which the illustrations reveal Wain’s signature style but the animals are not anthropomorphic, in the style now so often associated with Wain’s cats. Peter, a sizable black and white cat, was the Wain family pet, rescued and taken in on a wet and cold night, who brought comfort of Wain’s wife, Emily, in her final months as she battled breast cancer. Wain made many sketches of Peter, which Emily encouraged him to publish although she died before he did so. Wain later said of Peter, ‘To him properly belongs the foundation of my career, the developments of my initial efforts, and the establishing of my work’, and Peter the Cat is recognisable in many of Wain’s subsequent illustrations. Small 4to.