Oldest translation of Peter Rabbit found
Japanese translation
The Yomiuri Shimbun
TOKYO — A Japanese academic has unearthed a 1906 Japanese-language version of “The Tale of Peter Rabbit,” the first book in the “Peter Rabbit” series by Beatrix Potter (1866-1943), that appears to be the earliest foreign translation yet identified.
A Dutch translation of the book published in 1912 had been considered to be the oldest foreign version, and a Japanese translation published in a magazine in 1918 was thought to represent the first appearance of the popular series of children’s books in Japan.
Yoshihide Kawano, professor of English and American literature at Daito Bunka University, and two fans of the “Peter Rabbit” series came across the 1906 version in a magazine published by the Nisshusha newspaper, the predecessor of The Yomiuri Shimbun, when they were examining old literature in the National Diet Library in late April.