It is confusing, I agree! You are  correct in the chronology:
- 1911: JM Barrie's Peter and Wendy
- 1915: first authorised abridgement by May Byron entitled Peter Pan & Wendy (incidentally, the first time this title was used)

This was followed by:
- 1921: May Byron's version published with illustrations by Mabel Lucie Attwell still entitled Peter Pan & Wendy

- To complicate matters, there was also a retelling of the play by Daniel O'Connor in 1907, originally entitled The Story of Peter Pan, published by G Bell & Sons (with Barrie's approval) with illustrations by Alice B Woodward. This is a very different text from Barrie's novelisation or Byron's version but often reprinted nowadays under the title Peter Pan (and misattributed to Barrie). (May Byron's version is also sometimes nowadays misattributed to Barrie in modern editions, by the way.)

Zipes has his facts wrong: the authorised school edition (with F D Bedford's illustrations) was not published by Henry Frowde, but Humphrey Milford at Oxford University Press in 1915. I believe this is an adapted version of JM Barrie's text, as its foreword states "this is the story of the play that has been arranged for school use". It contains 10 chapters, with the same headings as Barrie's 1911 novel, but leaving out 7. (By the way, Henry Frowde was the publisher of Peter Pan's ABC illustrated by Flora White, which only has a few lines of text.)

I have a copy of Tir na Deo but always assumed it was May Byron's text because of the Mabel Lucie Attwell illustrations so it's interesting to hear the Irish version is actually different! I think you're probably right in thinking the translator abridged and adapted the story even more, and no-one minded (or noticed).

Will you therefore be publishing a new edition of Tir na Deo 's 1938 text, or a new translation based on the original? As far as I can see, there has never been an Irish translation of Barrie's own Peter & Wendy, which is a shame as none of the other adaptations start with the classic "All children, except one, grow up".

Will you be including illustrations, either by Attwell or Bedford (both still in copyright) or another artist?

If you wanted to discuss this further or have more details of the editions held in our records, feel free to contact me at peterpan@gosh.org.

Christine

A new blue plaque was unveiled on 30 November 2015 on Downing Court, on the corner of Grenville Street and Bernard Street (WC1), commemorating Sir J M Barrie's connection with Bloomsbury. Barrie lived in lodgings on the site in his early years in London, and the house that used to stand at 8 Grenville Street (now the site of Downing Court) was the inspiration for the Darlings' home, where Peter Pan flew in to meet Wendy. The plaque was unveiled by David Barrie, great-great-nephew of Peter Pan's creator and put up thanks to a campaign by the Marchmont Association, with the support of Downing Court residents.

This is the third plaque put up to commemorate Barrie's life in London, and the first in Bloomsbury (apart from the memorial tablets at Great Ormond Street Hospital).The other plaques are at 100 Bayswater Road in Bayswater, opposite Kensington Gardens (where he wrote the play Peter Pan) and at the Adelphi, off the Strand (where he wrote the novel Peter and Wendy).

As Barrie himself described the Darlings' home in the first scene of the play:

"The night nursery of the Darling family, (...) is at the top of a rather depressed street in Bloomsbury. We have the right to place it where we will, and the reason Bloomsbury is chosen is that Mr Roget once lived there. So did we in days when his Thesaurus was our only companion in London; and we whom he has helped to wend our way through life have always wanted to pay him a little compliment, The Darlings therefore lived in Bloomsbury.

It is a corner house whose top window, the important one, looks upon a leafy square (Ed. Note: this is Brunswick Square) from which Peter Used to fly up to it, to the delight of three children and no doubt the irritation of passers-by."

No apology required - your English is excellent!

I will have a look at the German editions held in the collection of Peter Pan books held at GOSH, although we probably wouldn't have anything much pre-1929, when Barrie gifted Peter Pan to the hospital. Please email me at peterpan@gosh.org so that I can reply direct to you from my work address.

A very worthwhile proposal! It will be great to see Barrie commemorated in Bloomsbury, where he lived for many years when he first came to London, before his marriage and move West to South Kensington and Bayswater. The house itself is no longer there, but the "leafy square" still is.

Thanks for the information. I will definitely look out for it next time I'm in (or near) Dumfries.

As for the verification questions, other people have had problems too so I'll report it to the administrators.

Birlinn Publishers from Edinburgh are launching a Peter Pan graphic novel later this month, illustrated by Stephen White and coloured by Fin Cramb, the first ever published in the UK. It's been faithfully and lovingly adapted from Barrie's original play and novel, and references Barrie's and Peter Pan's roots in Scotland as well as dotting the book with visual clues throughout. It's an amazing book, and a must for all Peter Pan and Barrie fans.

http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/books/man-behind-the-first-ever-peter-pan-graphic-novel-1-3788541
http://www.birlinn.co.uk/Peter-Pan-The-Graphic-Novel.html

A new TV film has been announced, to be aired on ITV later this year! This exciting new drama is a re-imagining of the classic story, but with a twist - and with Great Ormond Street Hospital playing a part! Stanley Tucci will play Captain Hook, Laura Fraser is Mrs Darling and Paloma Faith Tinker Bell, with newcomers Zac Sutcliffe as Peter and Hazel Doupe as Wendy.
http://www.gosh.org/news/latest-news/2015-archive/new-itv-drama-peter-and-wendy-based-novel-peter-pan-jm-barrie

Hi Rizqia

Great subject to research. The best book (in my view) on JM Barrie, his relationship with the Llewelyn Davies boys and the genesis of Peter Pan is Andrew Birkin's JM Barrie and the Lost Boys published by Yale University Press. There is also a biography by Lisa Chaney, Hide-and-Seek with Angels, a Life of JM Barrie published by Arrow Books (paperback) or Hutchinson (hardback), which is OK. There are many books on Barrie on the market but I believe these are the best and are easily obtainable online. Good luck with your studies and research.