Something Very Very Nice
Beatrix Potter (London 1866 - Near Sawrey, Cumbria 1943)
Category
Manuscripts and documents
Date
26 Nov 1903 - 3 Dec 1903
Materials
Ink, Paper, Pencil, Watercolour
Measurements
198 x 160 x 21 mm; 168 pages (Extent)
Place of origin
Hastings
Order this imageCollection
Beatrix Potter Gallery, Cumbria
NT 242206
Summary
Exercise book containing the manuscripts of 3 separate stories - Something Very Very Nice (the precursor of The Tale of the Pie and the Patty Pan), The Tale of Tuppenny (which developed into the first chapter of The Fairy Caravan), and The Tale of Two Bad Mice (also given an alternative title here, The Tale of Hunca Munca). The 3 stories were written during a holiday in Hastings in November and December 1903. Beatrix refers to them in a letter to Norman Warne 2 December 1903 - 'I have tried to make a cat story that would use some sketches of a cottage I drew the Summer before last [identified by Linder as Lakefield Cottage]...there are two others in the copy book - the result of a very wet week.' Something Very Very Nice occupies pages 1-60 of the exercise book. There is one separate unfinished rough watercolour (180mm x 135mm) of Ribby sitting before a range; this was developed into the published illustration HIL.RP.703. There are also 19 rough pencil drawings on small separate sheets of paper approximately 80 mm x 100 mm. The Tale of Tuppenny occupies pages 61-116 of the exercise book. There is also one loose sheet containing 2 rough pencil drawings of rabbits with some pencil-written notes on the reverse. There are no other illustrations, but there are occasional notes of the intended position where illustrations are to be inserted. The Tale of Two Bad Mice occupies pages 117-168, plus the inside back cover of the exercise book. There is an additional loose sheet of manuscript; and 5 rough pencil illustrations on separate sheets of paper of varying sizes. See also HIL.R.8, a later manuscript of The Tale of The Pie and The Patty Pan; HIL.RP.703; HIL.R.28.1, HIL.R.28.2, HIL.R.33, manuscripts of The Fairy Caravan; HIL.R.97, sheets of manuscript of The Tale of Tuppenny and The Tale of Two Bad Mice. None of the watercolours are stored inside this book anymore, they are all stored separately.
Makers and roles
Beatrix Potter (London 1866 - Near Sawrey, Cumbria 1943), writer