COVE

Beatrix Potter (1866-1943) grew up in an upper-middle-class household. She was fairly isolated with little interaction with people her age apart from her younger brother, Walter Bertram. Instead, Potter spent the majority of her free time around her many pets and exploring nature. Before illustrating children's books, Potter began drawing in her journal at around the age of eight (Golden). She was especially interested in drawing nature. Her deep interest in mycology inspired a large portion of Potter's artwork as she would often sketch various plants in detail. Potter was always more interested in drawing nature and animals compared to humans, and this is apparent through her work. Another strong influence for Potter was the various fairy tales she read when she was a young child. This influenced Potter's children's books heavily, where she combined her love of drawing nature with aspects of fairy tales. 

As genteel young women did not regularly attend school at the time, Potter was educated by three governesses, the last being Annie Carter Moore. Potter and Annie became friends, as they were only three years apart, and Potter formed deep relationships with Annie's eight children. When Potter and her family went on vacation, she often wrote to Annie Moore's children. Much like her journal, these letters would be embedded with illustrations in addition to the letter's content. These picture letters often included various animals going on adventures or completing tasks. One time when Potter was writing to Noel Moore when he was ill, Potter included a story in her picture letter. This tale was about four rabbit siblings: Flopsy, Mopsy, Cotton-tail, and Peter. This was the first version of The Tale of Peter Rabbit and was so loved by Noel Moor and Annie Moore, that they suggested Potter publish the story. However, Potter did not have much luck, and her story was rejected by six publishers. Not discouraged, she decided to self-publish her story, doing the production on her own. When The Tale of Peter Rabbit began selling so well, Potter was picked up by a publisher, and her story was published on a larger scale and in color. The Tale of Peter Rabbit expanded into a 23 book series, featuring animals such as squirrels and frogs alongside rabbits. Even after her stories became extremely popular, Potter insisted that the prices of her books be kept affordable, as the target audience for the Peter Rabbit Series is children (Swamidoss).

When Peter Rabbit reached the U.S., Potter's publisher failed to get a copyright on the book, leading Potter to lose all revenue generated overseas. Her work was copied, and Peter Rabbit as a character was used in other stories that were not Potter's own. When Potter wanted to begin franchising Peter Rabbit to make back the revenue she had lost, she filed for a patent on the Peter Rabbit doll immediately. After the success of the Peter Rabbit doll, Potter also released other toys and games based on The Tale of Peter Rabbit Series, all protected legally. Potter was one of the first people to commercialize a literary character and do it with such success. Beatrix Potter's legacy continues to live on, with Peter Rabbit now worth $500 million. Her stories are still known and beloved by children today, over 120 years after they were released to the public. 

Charles G.Y. King, vintage snapshot print of Beatrix Potter, 1913, scanned by the National Portrait Gallery, The Victorian Web. Helen Beatrix Potter is a Victorian era author and illustrator as well as a natural scientist and conservationist. She is best known for her children's books, such as The Tale of Peter Rabbit (1902). Her 23 children's tales, all of which contain animals as the main characters, have sold more than 250 million copies.  While Potter is most commonly known for her children's stories, she wrote over 60 books in her lifetime. The Tale of Peter Rabbit is her first commercially published book and Wag by Wall is her last, as it was published the year after Potter's death in 1944. 

Beatrix Potter, correspondence, ink on paper, 1893, scanned by V&A, Pearson PLC. Before publishing her Peter Rabbit series, Beatrix Potter wrote the first version of the story for children in the form of picture letters. This specific letter is to Noel Moore, the five-year-old son of Potter's former governess. This letter shows the first version of The Tale of Peter Rabbit that Potter writes for Noel Moore when he is sick. She starts by telling him that she does not know what to write about, but then she goes into a story about "four little rabbits, whose names were - Flopsy, Mopsy, Cotton-tail, and Peter." The character Peter Rabbit is inspired by Potter's own rabbit, named Peter Piper. Potter wrote many picture letters for Annie Moore's children that later became the framework for her stories, including The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin to Norah Moore and The Tale of Mr. Jeremy Fisher to Eric Moore. These picture letters have Potter's illustrations embedded in the text with multiple illustrations per page. While the bulk of the picture letters is the story, Potter also always included a formal greeting and send off, much like a traditional letter. The children loved the stories Potter wrote and the illustrations she drew so much that Annie Moore suggested Potter should have them published. While this task was not easy,  she eventually got her stories into the little hands of children around the world. 

Beatrix Potter, “Peter Rabbit,” for The Tale of Peter Rabbit, 1902, scanned by Dover Publications, Britannica. Despite drawing from a very young age, Potter published her first work in 1902 at the age of 36. The Tale of Peter Rabbit (1902) is a children’s book surrounding Peter Rabbit, a mischievous young rabbit who gets into trouble after not following his mother’s instructions. This illustration shows Peter after sneaking into the McGregors' garden and eating their radishes. Potter’s illustrations and storytelling create a calm environment, even when her characters find themselves in high-stress situations. She accomplishes this through watercolors and neutral tones throughout the picture book, which also make the illustrations more realistic. Potter takes pride in her animals being anatomically correct and even went as far as examining dead animals to learn as much information as she could. However, Peter Rabbit still possesses human-like qualities, like his blue coat (Golden). These details make the world of Peter Rabbit more relatable to children and better convey the lesson that not obeying your mother will have consequences. The addition of clothes makes Peter into more than a rabbit and instead into a character whochildren see themselves in.

Beatrix Potter, for The Tale of Mr. Jeremy Fisher, 1906, produced by David Newman, Melissa Er-Raqabi and the PG Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net, The Project Gutenberg. While Potter is best known for her rabbit illustrations, specifically Peter Rabbit and his family, she drew a plethora of animal characters across her 23 book Peter Rabbit Series. One of the most notable is a frog named Mr. Jeremy Fisher, the main character of the seventh story in the series, The Tale of Mr. Jeremy FIsher. While this story does not feature any rabbits as characters, Mr. Jeremy FIsher contains the same themes as Potter's other works. Mr. Jeremy Fisher gets himself into trouble when going fishing alone and ends up almost getting eaten by a fish. Mr. Jeremy Fisher makes it out; however, he does get injured and also does not have any fish for dinner with his two friends, Sir Isaac Newton and Mr. Alderman Ptolemy Tortoise. Despite depicting Jeremy FIsher as an adult, he still runs into similar obstacles that Potter's children characters, such as Peter Rabbit and Benjamin Bunny, get themselves into. This includes Jeremy Fisher losing his clothes and shoes when he is pulled into the water, much like Peter in the garden. This illustration shows Mr. Jeremy Fisher before disaster, as he sits on his lily pad "boat" and tries to catch minnows for dinner. 

Beatrix Potter, German Brown Velvet "Peter Rabbit" in Blue Felt Jacket, 1908, auctioned in The Empress and the Child - Antique Dolls, Theriault's. The Tale of Peter Rabbit was eventually picked up by a publisher, Warne & Co., and becomes an instant hit, selling out before it is published. However, Warne had not managed to register Peter Rabbit for copyright in the U.S., leading Potter to make no money from book sales in America. Potter also had no control over who reprinted her story, with many authors pirating her work and including her characters in their own books (Lanzendorfer). This incident led to years of missed revenue for Potter and, in turn, led her to become more vigilant about her work. When Potter decided that she wanted to make a Peter Rabbit doll, she made sure to patent her idea right away. This means that no one could manufacture a Peter Rabbit Doll or any merchandise based on Potter's characters without her permission; she could fight back legally. In fact, Peter Rabbit is the first character to be made into a patented stuffed toy.  Potter went on to make a variety of merchandise based on the Peter Rabbit Series, including toys and board games. This image shows an early version of the Peter Rabbit Doll, the vintage editions being sold for hundreds or thousands of dollars today.

Bibliography

“Beatrix Potter.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 31 Mar. 2024, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beatrix_Potter.

“Celebrating Beatrix Potter’s Life & Work.” The Beatrix Potter Society, 29 Sept. 2023, beatrixpottersociety.org.uk/.

Golden, Catherine J. "Beatrix Potter's Artistic Book Illustration." The Victorian Web, 19 Mar. 2017, victorianweb.org/art/illustration/potter/golden.html.

Lanzendorfer, Joy. “How Beatrix Potter Invented Character Merchandising.” Smithsonian.Com, Smithsonian Institution, 31 Jan. 2017, www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/how-beatrix-potter-invented-character-  merchandising-180961979/.

Swamidoss, Hannah. "Beatrix Potter - An Introduction." The Victorian Web, 16 July 2014, victorianweb.org/authors/potter/intro.html.