The Tale of Benjamin Bunny
Beatrix Potter (London 1866 - Near Sawrey, Cumbria 1943)
Category
Manuscripts and documents
Date
1903
Materials
Ink, Paper, Pencil
Measurements
185 x 125 x 8 mm; 82 pages (Extent)
Order this imageCollection
Beatrix Potter Gallery, Cumbria
NT 242205
Caption
Corner of buttressed garden wall with tree and flowers in the foreground. This is Fawe Park, the garden which appears in The Tale of Benjamin Bunny. Taken from Beatrix Potter's Derwentwater sketchbook.
Summary
Manuscript of The Tale of Benjamin Bunny, a brown 'Prince of Penny' exercise book. Each spread consists of a section of text faced by a rough pencil illustration drawn on a separate sheet and pasted in. There are 18 pencil drawings pasted in and a further 2 on loose sheets. Occasionally amended text has been written on separate small pieces of paper and pasted in.Beatrix began work on sketching the backgrounds for the illustrations in the summer of 1903, when the Potter family spent their summer holiday at Fawe Park, beside Derwent Water, near Keswick. The garden at Fawe Park provided the setting for many of the final illustrations.See also HIL.R.4.2, another rough draft of the manuscript; HIL.RD.81, HIL.RD.87, sketchbooks containing drawings of Fawe Park garden and settings for Benjamin Bunny; HIL RP.163-HIL.RP.200, the watercolour illustrations.
Makers and roles
Beatrix Potter (London 1866 - Near Sawrey, Cumbria 1943), writer