The Tale of Peter Rabbit
Beatrix Potter (London 1866 - Near Sawrey, Cumbria 1943)
Category
Manuscripts and documents
Date
1900
Materials
Ink, Paper, Pencil
Measurements
180 x 115 mm; 7 sheets (Extent)
Order this imageCollection
Beatrix Potter Gallery, Cumbria
NT 242253
Caption
Beatrix made this copy of her original letter to Noel Moore and used it to develop the manuscript for the first (privately printed) edition of The Tale of Peter Rabbit. The book is now available in over 35 languages and has been continuously in print since 1902.
Summary
Copy made by Beatrix of the original Peter Rabbit story letter that she wrote to Noel Moore from Eastwood, Dunkeld, 4 September 1893. Beatrix borrowed back the original letter and copied it out, with few very minor differences in the text and exactly copying the illustrations. According to the published catalogue of the Victoria and Albert Museum Potter collection, this is the final copy of the letter (the V and A have an earlier draft copy, see their published catalogue reference 884). Beatrix used this final copy as the basis for the draft of the story written in a stiff-covered exercise book with ink line ilustrations (HIL.R.1.) which was to become the first privately printed edition of The Tale of Peter Rabbit of 1901. See also HIL.R.58.1, note concerning copies of story letters; HIL.R.1, manuscript of The Tale of Peter Rabbit and Mr McGregor's Garden (the first privately printed edition, 1901); HIL.R.176, copy of the first private edition of The Tale of Peter Rabbit; HIL.R.32, manuscript of Canon Rawnsley's versification of The Tale of Peter Rabbit; HIL.R.62, draft letter to Bertha Mahony Miller, 30 July 1940, describing how Peter Rabbit came to be written. The original letter to Noel Moore belongs to the Frederick Warne archive.
Makers and roles
Beatrix Potter (London 1866 - Near Sawrey, Cumbria 1943), writer