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Not currently on display at the V&A

Three mice securing a window

Drawing
ca. 1892 (drawn)
Artist/Maker

Beatrix Potter (1866-1943) 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.

A number of Beatrix Potter’s narrative sequences of drawings were inspired by nursery rhymes. She explored the rhyme ‘Three little mice sat down to spin’ in around 1892, envisaging an illustrated booklet, possibly in a concertina format. She made detailed pen and ink studies, including the present drawing, and six finished watercolours: one for each line of the nursery rhyme (she omitted the last two lines of the usually eight-line rhyme). Potter also made a title-page and six decorated text pages. However, although the booklet reached this advanced stage of preparation it was never published. The fourth design, however, ‘Making coats for Gentlemen’, was adapted for her later book, The Tailor of Gloucester (1903).

The nursery rhyme, as she used it, reads:

Three little Mice sat down to spin
Pussy passed by, and she peeped in
‘What are you at, my fine little Men?’
‘Making coats for Gentlemen’
‘Shall I come in, and cut off your threads?’
‘Oh no! Miss Pussy, you’d bite off our heads’

This pen and ink drawing relates to a finished watercolour illustrating the line ‘Oh no! Miss Pussy, you’d bite off our heads.’ For the finished version, see Museum number BP.634(13).


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleThree mice securing a window
Materials and techniques
pen and ink with pencil on paper
Brief description
Drawing; pen and ink drawing showing three mice securing a window, related to the rhyme 'Three little mice sat down to spin', drawn by Beatrix Potter, ca.1892; Linder Bequest cat. no. LB.1078
Physical description
Pen and ink drawing showing three mice securing a window.
Dimensions
  • Sheet height: 125mm
  • Sheet width: 200mm
Style
Production typeUnique
Credit line
Linder Bequest [plus object number; written on labels on the same line as the object number]
Object history
Drawn by Beatrix Potter, ca. 1892. 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.
Subjects depicted
Summary
Beatrix Potter (1866-1943) 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.

A number of Beatrix Potter’s narrative sequences of drawings were inspired by nursery rhymes. She explored the rhyme ‘Three little mice sat down to spin’ in around 1892, envisaging an illustrated booklet, possibly in a concertina format. She made detailed pen and ink studies, including the present drawing, and six finished watercolours: one for each line of the nursery rhyme (she omitted the last two lines of the usually eight-line rhyme). Potter also made a title-page and six decorated text pages. However, although the booklet reached this advanced stage of preparation it was never published. The fourth design, however, ‘Making coats for Gentlemen’, was adapted for her later book, The Tailor of Gloucester (1903).

The nursery rhyme, as she used it, reads:

Three little Mice sat down to spin
Pussy passed by, and she peeped in
‘What are you at, my fine little Men?’
‘Making coats for Gentlemen’
‘Shall I come in, and cut off your threads?’
‘Oh no! Miss Pussy, you’d bite off our heads’

This pen and ink drawing relates to a finished watercolour illustrating the line ‘Oh no! Miss Pussy, you’d bite off our heads.’ For the finished version, see Museum number BP.634(13).
Bibliographic references
  • 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. p.122; no.1078 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. p.122; no.1078
  • Taylor, Judy, Joyce Irene Whalley, Anne Stevenson Hobbs, Elizabeth M Battrick. Beatrix Potter 1866-1943: the Artist and Her World. 1987. London: Frederick Warne & Co. pp.55-6 (discussion of the series of drawings) Taylor, Judy, Joyce Irene Whalley, Anne Stevenson Hobbs, Elizabeth M Battrick. Beatrix Potter 1866-1943: the Artist and Her World. 1987. London: Frederick Warne & Co. pp.55-6 (discussion of the series of drawings)
  • Beatrix Potter: artist & illustrator Frederick Warne & Co Ltd, 2005 pp.92-3 (discussion of the series of drawings) Anne Stevenson Hobbs, Beatrix Potter: artist & illustrator, Frederick Warne & Co Ltd, 2005, pp.92-3 (discussion of the series of drawings)
Other number
LB.1078 - Linder Bequest catalogue no.
Collection
Library number
BP.634(7)

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Record createdSeptember 1, 2016
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