NMLP P-038937 — The Little Engine That Could

Watty Piper (Arnold Munk); illustrated by Lois Lenski · Platt & Munk (New York) · 1930

Platt & Munk, New York, 1930 is confirmed as the first edition of this book — the Watty Piper (Arnold Munk) retelling illustrated by Lois Lenski, the title page crediting the retelling from 'The Pony Engine' by Mabel C. Bragg. It is emphatically not the first appearance of the story: recognizable versions circulated from the early 1900s, 'The Pony Engine' appeared under Mary C. Jacobs (1910) and Mabel C. Bragg (1916), and the title 'The Little Engine That Could' first saw print in 1920 in volume 1 of My Book House. There is no UK or original-language precedence issue. The 1954 Platt & Munk edition re-illustrated by George and Doris Hauman is a different book, not a printing of this one — a first-thus trap, and the version most people picture.

New Mexico Literacy Project — True-first precedence NMLP P-038937 for "The Little Engine That Could" by Watty Piper (Arnold Munk); illustrated by Lois Lenski (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/id/point/p-038937, CC BY 4.0, dataset DOI 10.5281/zenodo.21184548).