Manuscript
1914 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Beatrix Potter is one of the world's best-loved children's authors and illustrators. She wrote the majority of the twenty-three Original Peter Rabbit Books between 1901 and 1913. The Tale of Peter Rabbit (Frederick Warne, 1902) is her most famous and best-loved tale.
After her marriage and permanent move to the Lake District at the age of 47 in 1913, Potter spent less time creating books; while the previous twelve years had seen one or two new stories published each year, after 1913 only a few more were to come. She had, however, planned a book for 1914 – The Tale of Kitty-in-Boots, ‘about a well-behaved prime black Kitty cat, who leads rather a double life, and goes out hunting with a little gun… dressed up like puss in boots’. Potter complained to her publishers that she lacked ‘time and opportunity’ to work on the drawings for the tale. Although she finished the text, the frontispiece was the only completed illustration, and the book was not published.
After her marriage and permanent move to the Lake District at the age of 47 in 1913, Potter spent less time creating books; while the previous twelve years had seen one or two new stories published each year, after 1913 only a few more were to come. She had, however, planned a book for 1914 – The Tale of Kitty-in-Boots, ‘about a well-behaved prime black Kitty cat, who leads rather a double life, and goes out hunting with a little gun… dressed up like puss in boots’. Potter complained to her publishers that she lacked ‘time and opportunity’ to work on the drawings for the tale. Although she finished the text, the frontispiece was the only completed illustration, and the book was not published.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Pen and ink and pencil in ruled paper exercise book |
| Brief description | Manuscript, pen and ink with pencil annotations; first complete draft of The Tale of Kitty-in-Boots, by Beatrix Potter. Great Britain, ca.1914. Linder Bequest cat. no. LB.1244. |
| Physical description | Draft of the story in pen and ink with pencil annotations throughout. Written in a ruled exercise book with green paper cover: The Monster Exercise Book. |
| Dimensions |
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| Production type | Unique |
| Marks and inscriptions | Pencil annotations by Beatrix Potter throughout the text, indicating changes to the first draft. |
| Credit line | Linder Bequest [plus object number; written on labels on the same line as the object number] |
| Object history | Written by Beatrix Potter, probably in late 1913 or early 1914. Acquired by the V&A from Leslie Linder (1904-1973) in 1973 as part of the Linder Bequest, a collection of ca. 2150 watercolours, drawings, literary manuscripts, correspondence, books, photographs, and other memorabilia associated with Beatrix Potter and her family. |
| Summary | Beatrix Potter is one of the world's best-loved children's authors and illustrators. She wrote the majority of the twenty-three Original Peter Rabbit Books between 1901 and 1913. The Tale of Peter Rabbit (Frederick Warne, 1902) is her most famous and best-loved tale. After her marriage and permanent move to the Lake District at the age of 47 in 1913, Potter spent less time creating books; while the previous twelve years had seen one or two new stories published each year, after 1913 only a few more were to come. She had, however, planned a book for 1914 – The Tale of Kitty-in-Boots, ‘about a well-behaved prime black Kitty cat, who leads rather a double life, and goes out hunting with a little gun… dressed up like puss in boots’. Potter complained to her publishers that she lacked ‘time and opportunity’ to work on the drawings for the tale. Although she finished the text, the frontispiece was the only completed illustration, and the book was not published. |
| Associated objects | |
| Bibliographic reference | Hobbs, Anne Stevenson, and Joyce Irene Whalley, eds. Beatrix Potter: the V & A collection : the Leslie Linder bequest of Beatrix Potter material : watercolours, drawings, manuscripts, books, photographs and memorabilia. London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1985.
Hobbs, Anne Stevenson, and Joyce Irene Whalley, eds. Beatrix Potter: the V & A collection: the Leslie Linder bequest of Beatrix Potter material: watercolours, drawings, manuscripts, books, photographs and memorabilia. London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1985; no.1244. |
| Other number | LB.1244 - Linder Bequest catalogue no. |
| Collection | |
| Library number | BP.613 |
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| Record created | March 19, 2016 |
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