Peter and Wendy:

by J.M. Barrie, F.D. Bedford (Illustrator)

“Barrie wrote his fantasy of childhood, added another figure to our enduring literature, and thereby undoubtedly made one of the boldest bids for immortality of any writer. . . It is a masterpiece.” —J. B. Priestley.
“Dreams do come true, if only we wish hard enough. You can have anything in life if you will sacrifice everything else for it.” ― J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan.
“The moment you doubt whether you can fly, you cease forever to be able to do it.” ― J. M. Barrie, Peter Pan
“Wendy,” Peter Pan continued in a voice that no woman has ever yet been able to resist, “Wendy, one girl is more use than twenty boys.” ― J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan.

J. M Barrie created Peter Pan , a mischievous boy who could fly, but who never grew up. Ever since, children, and many wistful adults, have loved his irrepressible spirit and his adventures in magical Neverland with Wendy and the lost boys, Tinkerbell, fairies, mermaids, “Indians” and pirates, including Captain Hook. The story has been remade in almost every form—pantomimes, musicals, stage plays, cartoon, picture books, easy readers and, of course, Hollywood adaptations.
Peter Pan and Wendy is the book that inspired it all. It will capture the imagination of any child who loves adventure, fantasy, and magic. The well-developed characters, highly original plot, humour and irony will also delight adults. Peter and Wendy has often been called the finest children’s story of all time.
This edition contains the frontispiece and all F. D. Benson’s original illustrations.

J. M. Barrie (Sir James Matthew Barrie, 1860-1937) was a Scottish dramatist and novelist. Barrie, who retained a childlike spirit throughout life, wished to recapture his happy early childhood in literature. Walking in Kensington Gardens, London, he met the two young Llewelyn Davies brothers, and their youngest sibling, Peter, and told them stories about the imaginary adventures of baby Peter in Peter. He later recorded the stories and, in time, became the boys’ guardian. Today J. M. Barrie is best remembered as the creator of Peter Pan, the boy who never grew up.
F. D. Bedford (1864–1954) was a British artist who illustrated numerous books, most notably this edition of Peter and Wendy .

Genres: Picture Books

126 pages, Paperback

Published June 26, 2023

About the author

James Matthew Barrie was a Scottish novelist and playwright, best remembered as the creator of Peter Pan. He was born and educated in Scotland and then moved to London, where he wrote several successful novels and plays.

The son of a weaver, Barrie studied at the University of Edinburgh. He took up journalism for a newspaper in Nottingham and contributed to various London journals before moving there in 1885. His early Auld Licht Idylls (1889) and A Window in Thrums (1889) contain fictional sketches of Scottish life representative of the Kailyard school. The publication of The Little Minister (1891) established his reputation as a novelist. During the next decade, Barrie continued to write novels, but gradually, his interest turned towards the theatre.

In London, he met Llewelyn Davies, who inspired him about magical adventures of a baby boy in gardens of Kensington, included in The Little White Bird, then to a "fairy play" about this ageless adventures of an ordinary girl, named Wendy, in the setting of Neverland. People credited this best-known play with popularizing Wendy, the previously very unpopular name, and quickly overshadowed his previous, and he continued successfully.

Following the deaths of their parents, Barrie unofficially adopted the boys. He gave the rights to great Ormond street hospital, which continues to benefit.