![]() She also admitted to writing to please herself, not an audience. Her three reasons were her ancestry, her descent from yeoman and weavers long periods spent in the Scottish Highlands when she was a child, with a strong belief in fairies, witches and John Calvin’s doctrines and an exceptionally fine memory. In Beatrix Potter’s Americans, Selected Letters edited by Jane Crowell Morse, an American who knew Potter, the artist added a short essay called “‘Roots’ of the Peter Rabbit Tales.” Potter writes she was afraid of disappointing the American public if she gave her reasons for writing children’s books but felt an obligation to do so. For example, Jemima PuddleDuck and Ginger and Pickles (about a country store) are obviously set in her neighborhood. Although she finally established her parents in a house nearer her farm, she still could only live at Hill Top four days a week. There, she learned to be a farmer and continued sketching, predominantly her house, her garden, the countryside and small animals. She was still spending three-quarters of the year in London, either by herself, or visiting her mother and father, who were then quite old. Within a decade, her books sold in the millions. In eight years, she wrote thirteen successful volumes, many of which were about Hill Top and the village of Sawrey. This homestead is now a popular tourist and literary attraction, open from Easter until the end of October.Īfter Norman Warne died, Potter still felt an urge to produce new books. The royalties Potter made from the sales of these small books, together with a slim inheritance, allowed her to buy Hill Top Farm in Far Sawrey, in the Lake District, 250 miles northwest of London. Warne bought the first color edition of the book and encouraged her to write more: Squirrel Nutkin, The Tailor of Gloucester and Benjamin Bunny. They didn’t take it at first, so she published it privately in an edition of 450 copies. But Beatrix preferred her own style, and offered her book to the publishing company of Frederick Warne & Co. Although he liked her drawings, he thought his own words should be substituted for hers. ![]() When she decided to publish, Potter turned to her friend, Rawnsley, as she often did, for advice. This was originally written in the form of a letter sent to a five-year-old invalid boy, Noel, in 1893, based on the activities of a real rabbit. In her mid-thirties, because the recipients enjoyed her works so much, Potter decided to publish a book called The Tale of Peter Rabbit. According to Judy Taylor, media specialist for The Beatrix Potter Society and an international Potter expert, in the foreword to the 1989 edition of The Journal, Potter’s first signed illustrations were published in A Happy Pair, verse by Frederick E. In her mid twenties, she illustrated a book of verses for children and wrote about her animals in letters to the children of her former governess. She kept this type of journal until the age of 30.Īs a dutiful young woman, Beatrix lived in London with her parents, running their household. The Journal of Beatrix Potter 1881-1897 (first published by Frederick Warne in 1966) is part of this document, transcribed from code by Potter scholar Leslie Linder. Most people at this time did not think young ladies should consider such artistic occupations.Īnother artistic pursuit for the teenage Potter was writing a journal in a code no-one could read. He also took an interest in Beatrix’s animals she often took them on holiday in hutches or boxes, and he encouraged her early painting. This man influenced Potter throughout much of her life. He loved the Lake District and hated any encroachments into it, including railroads. It was there that she met Hardwicke Rawnsley, a writer who was, at that time, the Vicar of Wray. One spot the family often returned to when Beatrix was in her teens was Wray Castle, on the west shore of Windermere, in the Lake District. The family spent three-month summer holidays in the country, at the Lake District in England, or in Scotland. Whenever possible, she smuggled mice, rabbits and hedgehogs into the house. As Bertram was sent away to private school, Beatrix was often alone. She was an accomplished botanical illustrator, a sheep breeder and farmer, a wife, and a conservationist greatly devoted to her home, the Lake District of England.īorn in 1866 in London, to a wealthy Victorian family, (Helen) Beatrix was one of two children (she had a brother, Bertram). A product of Victorian times, she far surpassed societal expectations of women of her era and class. Tiggy Winkle and Hunca Munca, but, as is true in most lives, she was in reality many other things, as well. ![]() Beatrix Potter may be best known as the creator of charming characters like Peter Rabbit, Mrs.
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