thirty-two ... and marked which ones might best be eliminated". Potter initially resisted the idea of colour illustrations, but then realized her stubborn stance was a mistake. She sent Warne "several colour illustrations, along with a copy of her privately printed edition" which Warne then handed to their eminent children's book illustrator L. Leslie Brooke for his professional opinion. Brooke was impressed with Potter's work. Fortuitously, his recommendation coincided with a sudden surge in the small picture-book market. Meanwhile, Potter continued to distribute her privately printed edition to family and friends, with the celebrated creator of Sherlock Holmes, Arthur Conan Doyle, acquiring a copy for his children. When the first private printing of 250 copies was sold out, another 200 were prepared. She noted in an inscription in one copy that her beloved pet rabbit Peter had died. Potter arrived at an agreement with Warne for an initial commercial publication of 5,000 copies. Negotiations dragged on into the following year, but a contract was finally signed in June 1902. Potter was closely involved in the publication of the commercial edition – redrawing where necessary, making minor adjustments to the prose and correcting punctuation. The blocks for the illustrations and text were sent to printer Edmund Evans for engraving, and she made adjustments to the proofs when she received them. Lear writes that "Even before the publication of the tale in early October 1902, the first 8,000 copies were sold out. By the year's end there were 28,000 copies of The Tale of Peter Rabbit in print. By the middle of 1903 there was a fifth edition sporting coloured endpapers ... a sixth printing was produced within the month"; and a year after the first commercial publication there were 56,470 copies in print. American copyright Warne did not copyright The Tale of Peter Rabbit when it was published in the United States and unlicensed editions of the book were produced, with the first being published by Henry Altemus Company in 1904. Merchandising Potter asserted that her tales would one day be nursery classics, and part of the "longevity of her books comes from strategy", writes Potter biographer Ruth MacDonald. She was the first to exploit the commercial possibilities of her characters and tales; between 1903 and 1905 these included a Peter Rabbit stuffed toy, an unpublished board game, and nursery wallpaper. Considerable variations to the original format and version of The