In 1900, Potter revised a tale about a humanized rabbit she had written for a child friend in 1893, fashioned a dummy book of it in imitation of Helen Bannerman's 1899 bestseller "The Story of Little Black Sambo", and privately published her tale for family and friends in December 1901 after several publishers' rejections. Frederick Warne & Co. had earlier rejected the tale, but, eager to compete in the lucrative small format children's book market, reconsidered and accepted the "bunny book" (as the firm called it) on the recommendation of their prominent children's book artist L. Leslie Brooke. Potter agreed to colour the pen and ink illustrations of her privately printed edition, chose the then-new Hentschel three-colour process for reproducing her watercolours, and in October 1902 "The Tale of Peter Rabbit" was released.