Something Very Very Nice
Beatrix Potter (London 1866 - Near Sawrey, Cumbria 1943)
Category
Books
Date
26 Nov 1903 - 3 Dec 1903
Materials
Ink, Paper, Pencil, Watercolour
Place of origin
Hastings
Collection
Beatrix Potter Gallery, Cumbria
NT 242206.28
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.The Tale of Tuppenny occupies pages 61-116 of the exercise book. The Tale of Two Bad Mice occupies pages 117-168, plus the inside back cover of the exercise book. 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 or illustrations are stored inside this book anymore, they are all stored separately.
Makers and roles
Beatrix Potter (London 1866 - Near Sawrey, Cumbria 1943), writer