Composition and Publication
The Tale of A Fierce Bad Rabbit was written for Louie Warne, the daughter of Potter's publisher, Harold Warne. The child thought Peter Rabbit much too well-behaved and wanted a story about a truly bad rabbit. Potter was experimenting with toy books at the time and A Fierce Bad Rabbit was published for Christmas 1906 in a panorama format of fourteen pictures and text printed from left to right on a long strip of paper that folded accordion-fashion into a wallet tied with a ribbon. The format was popular with readers but unpopular with booksellers who found the item too difficult to keep folded, tied, and in its place once curious customers opened and examined it.
In 1916, Potter completed a new frontispiece for the tale, and A Fierce Bad Rabbit was reprinted in a slightly smaller format than the other books in the Peter Rabbit library. Today, the book is printed in the standard small format of the series.
Read more about this topic: The Story Of A Fierce Bad Rabbit
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