# Is "Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens" by J. M. Barrie (illustrated by Arthur Rackham) a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens by J. M. Barrie (illustrated by Arthur Rackham) (Hodder & Stoughton, 1906) is identified by: First edition, Hodder & Stoughton, London, published late November or early December 1906 in two simultaneous issues. The census claim that Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1906 is the true first is upheld: dealers and auction houses uniformly catalogue the Hodder printing as the first edition, in both the trade issue and the 500-copy signed deluxe issue, and catalogue the Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1906 printing as the first American edition (green cloth lettered and decorated in gilt, the same 50 Rackham plates tipped in at the rear; recorded at Riall p.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First edition, Hodder & Stoughton, London, published late November or early December 1906 in two simultaneous issues
- The trade issue is bound in publisher's russet cloth, lettered and pictorially blocked in gilt on the upper board and spine, all edges tinted brown, with a map of Kensington Gardens printed on the front free endpaper; roughly 125-126 pages of text followed by the plates
- Both issues carry 50 colour plates (colour frontispiece plus 49) tipped onto heavy brown mounts, each with a captioned letterpress tissue guard, together with a small group of black-and-white line drawings (two on the title page, one each at pages 1 and 14)
- The deluxe issue is limited to 500 copies, numbered and signed by Rackham on the limitation leaf, bound in vellum or half-vellum over boards blocked and lettered in gilt, top edge gilt with other edges untrimmed, and issued with silk ties (very often perished or replaced)
- The verso of the Hodder title leaf states 'Copyright in the United States of America by Charles Scribner's Sons.' A common variant, not a defect, is the plates bound together at the rear rather than distributed through the text
- Publisher imprint reads Hodder & Stoughton
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | J. M. Barrie (illustrated by Arthur Rackham) |
| Publisher | Hodder & Stoughton |
| Year | 1906 |
| True first | American edition |
| Format | Children's / illustrated |
| Key point | First edition, Hodder & Stoughton, London, published late November or early December 1906 in two simultaneous issues |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
First edition, Hodder & Stoughton, London, published late November or early December 1906 in two simultaneous issues. The trade issue is bound in publisher's russet cloth, lettered and pictorially blocked in gilt on the upper board and spine, all edges tinted brown, with a map of Kensington Gardens printed on the front free endpaper; roughly 125-126 pages of text followed by the plates. Both issues carry 50 colour plates (colour frontispiece plus 49) tipped onto heavy brown mounts, each with a captioned letterpress tissue guard, together with a small group of black-and-white line drawings (two on the title page, one each at pages 1 and 14). The deluxe issue is limited to 500 copies, numbered and signed by Rackham on the limitation leaf, bound in vellum or half-vellum over boards blocked and lettered in gilt, top edge gilt with other edges untrimmed, and issued with silk ties (very often perished or replaced). The verso of the Hodder title leaf states 'Copyright in the United States of America by Charles Scribner's Sons.' A common variant, not a defect, is the plates bound together at the rear rather than distributed through the text.

## Is this the true first?
The census claim that Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1906 is the true first is upheld: dealers and auction houses uniformly catalogue the Hodder printing as the first edition, in both the trade issue and the 500-copy signed deluxe issue, and catalogue the Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1906 printing as the first American edition (green cloth lettered and decorated in gilt, the same 50 Rackham plates tipped in at the rear; recorded at Riall p. 74). No source consulted supplies day-level dates for the two 1906 issues, so the UK-over-US ordering rests on trade consensus and on the Scribner copyright notice printed on the Hodder verso, rather than on a documented date gap. Both editions are collected, the signed deluxe being the crown jewel. Critical 'first thus' trap: this is the first SEPARATE and first Rackham-illustrated edition only. The text is lifted, with light revision to read free of its frame story, from chapters 13-18 of Barrie's The Little White Bird (Hodder & Stoughton, London / Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1902), which is the first appearance of the Peter Pan material.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club issue is documented for the 1906 edition. The principal reprint trap is Hodder's own 1912 reissue, described in the trade in near-identical publisher's russet cloth with gilt lettering to spine and upper cover, gilt illustration to the upper cover, and the same 50 tipped-in Rackham plates with captioned tissue guards; the title-page date is the deciding point. Deluxe copies must retain the numbered limitation leaf signed by Rackham - a vellum-bound copy lacking it is not the signed issue.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens* by J. M. Barrie (illustrated by Arthur Rackham) a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/peter-pan-in-kensington-gardens
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-04.