A cat named Ribby sends a dog named Duchess an invitation to come to tea. In the invitation, Ribby says that is going to make a delicious pie in her pink and white pie dish. The pie will be just for Duchess. Ribby is going to eat muffins. The Tale of the Pie and the Patty Pan features the houses, gardens and streets of the village of Sawrey, where Beatrix Potter lived, at Hill Top, her first farm. The inhabitants, however, are animals rather than people, and problems arise when Ribby the cat invites Duchess the dog to tea. Ribby went into the shop and bought what she required, and came out, after a pleasant gossip with Cousin Tabitha Twitchit. Lear, Linda (2007). Beatrix Potter: A Life in Nature. St. Martin's Griffin. ISBN 978-0-312-37796-0. Ribby buttered herself a muffin and thought ‘How fast Duchess is eating. That’s her fourth helping already!’

The Tale of the Pie and the Patty-Pan (originally published as The Pie and the Patty-Pan and not known by its current title until the 1930s) is a children's fantasy story by the British author and illustrator Beatrix Potter. It was first published in October 1905, in a larger format than was normal for Potter's children's books. I am dreadfully afraid it WILL be mouse!” said Duchess to herself—“I really couldn’t, COULDN’T eat mouse pie. And I shall have to eat it, because it is a party. And MY pie was going to be veal and ham. A pink and white pie-dish! And so is mine; just like Ribby’s dishes; they were both bought at Tabitha Twitchit’s.”But while Ribby had been hunting for the doctor--a curious thing had happened to Duchess, who had been left by herself, sitting before the fire, sighing and groaning and feeling very unhappy. I am feeling very much better, my dear Ribby,” said Duchess. “Do you not think that I had better go home before it gets dark?” Ribby met Duchess half-way down the street, also carrying a basket, covered with a cloth. They only bowed to one another; they did not speak, because they were going to have a party. And then she thought that did not look quite polite; so she scratched out “isn’t mouse” and changed it to “I hope it will be fine,” and she gave her letter to the postman. DuBay, Debbie; Sewall, Kara (2006). Beatrix Potter Collectibles: The Peter Rabbit Story Characters. Schiffer Publishing Ltd. ISBN 0-7643-2358-X.

Duchess sends a reply in which she says that she will come. She suspects, however, that the pie will be made of mouse and she will not enjoy eating it. She then remembers that she also has a pink and white pie dish. Both she and Ribby bought their identical pie dishes at Tabitha Twitchit's [2] shop. Duchess reasons that Ribby will have to go out to buy muffins. Duchess realizes she can take advantage of Ribby's absence to sneak into her house and substitute the mouse pie for a different one. Duchess makes a veal and ham pie. She uses a piece of metal called a patty-pan to hold up the pie crust. While you can buy Potter stories individually, I have to advocate for getting a complete or near-complete collection of her stories. While this story will entertain most children for one or two readings, it does not shine unless taken in with the rest of Potter's works. And make absolutely sure you get one a collection with the original illustrations of Beatrix Potter herself. Her genius was not just in text, but in her visual storytelling. The watercolor technique in general is quite difficult and unforgiving, but Potter seems to have practiced it with as much ease as if she's gone into a countryside with a modern camera. Crisp and lively, these pictures are true works of art. Ribby settled Duchess in an armchair before the fire, and went out and hurried to the village to look for the doctor.

THE TALE OF

Duchess didn’t notice that Ribby removed the golden, steaming pie from the bottom oven. But when it was served she did notice what small pieces of meat it contained. ‘I don’t remember mincing the ham so finely,’ she thought. But it tasted so good and she gobbled it down in big mouthfuls.

Potter had long wanted to develop a book of nursery rhymes, but such a project left Warne cold. Rhymes were already well represented in the firm's catalogue, and Warne felt Potter's unbridled enthusiasm for the genre would make the project a headache for him. In the past, he had tried to discourage Potter's interest in rhymes, believing her own stories superior, but she persisted. He reluctantly agreed to a book of rhymes for 1905, but Potter did not have it ready at the end of 1904, so he accepted the tea party tale instead. [5] Early in 1905, it was decided the book would be published at the end of the year. [2] Cupboard Love by Briton Riviere depicts Potter's cousin Kate. The work was parodied by Potter in the illustration of Duchess searching Ribby's cupboard for the mouse pie. [6] Beatrix Potter (1866–1943) loved the countryside and spent much of her childhood drawing and studying animals. 'The Tale of Peter Rabbit', first published in 1902, was her first book. She later went on to publish more than twenty tales and collections of rhymes.Oh what a good idea! Why shouldn’t I rush along and put my pie into Ribby’s oven when Ribby isn’t there?” One morning the dog, Duchess, received a letter from Ribby the cat inviting her to tea. It said: ‘We will have something very nice to eat. You will never have tasted anything so good. I am baking it in a pie dish and you can eat it all. I will eat muffins.’ Duchess started to howl and moan and whine. ‘I feel so ill. I have swallowed a patty-pan. I’m going to die!’ First edition, first impression. This was the first of Beatrix Potter's works to be published in a larger format. The Pie and the Patty-Pan was the last book on which Norman Warne worked with Potter, and his proposal of marriage was sent during its creation. Potter completed the project alone and it was published two months after Warne's untimely death. Immediately before publication, Potter realised there was no endpaper design. She wrote to her publishers, "I conclude there is no time to get an endpaper design done - unless Mr. Stokoe has already designed one - I do not mind one way or another". Accordingly, the book appeared with plain mottled lavender endpapers (Linder). As noted by Linder, "from 1930 onwards, to bring the book into line with the others in the series, it was printed in the ordinary small format, and the title changed to The Tale of the Pie and the Patty-Pan". Linder, p. 172. Small quarto. Original brown boards, spine and front cover lettered in white, colour pictorial label on front cover, pale purple endpapers. Colour frontispiece, 9 coloured plates, and line drawings in the text, all by the author. Prize bookplate, from Syston High School in Leicester. Small wear to spine ends and corners, a little soiling to contents, plates unaffected and bright. A very good copy. As soon as Duchess had got round the corner out of sight--she simply ran! Straight away to Ribby's house!

Oh yes, yes! Fetch Dr. Maggotty, my dear Ribby: he is a Pie himself, he will certainly understand.” In her thirties, Potter published the highly successful children's book The Tale of Peter Rabbit and became secretly engaged to her publisher, Norman Warne, causing a breach with her parents, who disapproved of his social status. Warne died before the wedding. Duchess started! She opened the door of the top oven;—out came a rich steamy flavor of veal and ham, and there stood a fine brown pie,—and through a hole in the top of the pie-crust there was a glimpse of a little tin patty-pan!And, along with a dual oven, one top, one bottom, this turns out to be the crux of the story. Ribby and Duchess shop for their ingredients, meet in the shops but don't speak because they are too wrapped up in what they are doing! Ribby rushes home, prepares everything and puts her pie in the bottom oven and goes upstairs to change her dress. Ribby in the meantime had received Duchess’s answer, and as soon as she was sure that the little dog would come—she popped HER pie into the oven. There were two ovens, one above the other; some other knobs and handles were only ornamental and not intended to open. Ribby put the pie into the lower oven; the door was very stiff. The book's endpapers had been overlooked. Potter wrote to the firm: "I conclude there is no time to get an end-paper design done—unless Mr. Stokoe has already designed one—I do not mind one way or another; I had begun to scribble something but it looks a bit stiff." Mr. Stokoe apparently did not design one because the endpapers were either plain white or mottled lavender. Several years later, they were replaced with a design featuring a pie and a patty-pan and the cover illustration changed to Ribby sitting by the fire. In the 1930s, the book's size was reduced to bring it into line with the rest of the Peter Rabbit books. The title was changed at that time to The Tale of the Pie and the Patty-Pan. [10] [20] Ribby put on some coal and swept up the hearth. Then she went out with a can to the well, for water to fill up the kettle.