Watercolour
1902 (made)
| 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 Original Peter Rabbit Books between 1901 and 1913. <i>The Tale of Peter Rabbit</i> (Frederick Warne, 1902) is her most famous and best-loved tale.
At first publishers rejected Beatrix's manuscript of 'The Tale of Peter Rabbit and Mr. McGregor's Garden' so she decided to publish the story herself in an edition of 250 copies with black and white illustrations and a colour frontispiece. By the time her privately printed edition was published in December 1901 Frederick Warne had agreed to publish the story the following year as <i>The Tale of Peter Rabbit</i>. However, Warne specified that the story would have to be shorter with colour illustrations so early in 1902 Beatrix began editing her privately printed edition, removing eleven illustrations and altering the text accordingly. A black and white version of this illustration appeared in the privately printed edition and it was Beatrix's original intention to include a colour version in Warne's first edition. However, the colour version was eventually rejected and remained unused until 2002 when Warne reinstated it in a new edition marking the centenary of <i>The Tale of Peter Rabbit</i>.
At first publishers rejected Beatrix's manuscript of 'The Tale of Peter Rabbit and Mr. McGregor's Garden' so she decided to publish the story herself in an edition of 250 copies with black and white illustrations and a colour frontispiece. By the time her privately printed edition was published in December 1901 Frederick Warne had agreed to publish the story the following year as <i>The Tale of Peter Rabbit</i>. However, Warne specified that the story would have to be shorter with colour illustrations so early in 1902 Beatrix began editing her privately printed edition, removing eleven illustrations and altering the text accordingly. A black and white version of this illustration appeared in the privately printed edition and it was Beatrix's original intention to include a colour version in Warne's first edition. However, the colour version was eventually rejected and remained unused until 2002 when Warne reinstated it in a new edition marking the centenary of <i>The Tale of Peter Rabbit</i>.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Watercolour and pen and ink over pencil on paper. |
| Brief description | Drawing of a robin bending over a shoe: unused illustration for The Tale of Peter Rabbit (1902), published in the 2002 edition, watercolour, pen and ink and pencil, by Beatrix Potter, Great Britain, 1902, Linder Collection object no. LC.22.A.2; catalogue no. 4.59. |
| Physical description | A close-up of a robin pecking downwards towards the bottom right of the picture where there is a brown leather slip on shoe. Vignette with pebbles and a little foliage to the left of the robin. |
| Dimensions |
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| Content description | Variant, unused illustration. |
| Credit line | Given by the Linder Collection |
| Object history | Given by Leslie Linder (1904-1973) to the National Book League (now the Book Trust) in 1970 as part of a representative selection of Beatrix Potter's work. This selection, comprising 279 drawings and 38 early editions and now known as the Linder Collection, was formerly on long-term loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum between 1989 and 2019 form the charitable trust, The Linder Trust. |
| Historical context | Although a pen and ink version of this illustration appeared in the privately printed edition (1901) the colour version was not used in Warne's first edition (1902). The illustration was reintroduced in the 2002 edition to mark the centenary of The Tale of Peter Rabbit. |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Literary reference | <i>The Tale of Peter Rabbit</i>, Beatrix Potter |
| Summary | Beatrix Potter (1866-1943) is one of the world's best-loved children's authors and illustrators. She wrote the majority of the Original Peter Rabbit Books between 1901 and 1913. <i>The Tale of Peter Rabbit</i> (Frederick Warne, 1902) is her most famous and best-loved tale. At first publishers rejected Beatrix's manuscript of 'The Tale of Peter Rabbit and Mr. McGregor's Garden' so she decided to publish the story herself in an edition of 250 copies with black and white illustrations and a colour frontispiece. By the time her privately printed edition was published in December 1901 Frederick Warne had agreed to publish the story the following year as <i>The Tale of Peter Rabbit</i>. However, Warne specified that the story would have to be shorter with colour illustrations so early in 1902 Beatrix began editing her privately printed edition, removing eleven illustrations and altering the text accordingly. A black and white version of this illustration appeared in the privately printed edition and it was Beatrix's original intention to include a colour version in Warne's first edition. However, the colour version was eventually rejected and remained unused until 2002 when Warne reinstated it in a new edition marking the centenary of <i>The Tale of Peter Rabbit</i>. |
| Associated object | LC.22/A/1 (Series) |
| Bibliographic references |
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| Other numbers |
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| Collection | |
| Library number | LC 22/A/2 |
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| Record created | February 23, 2012 |
| Record URL |
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