Not on display

Photograph

9/10/1896
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

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.

Beatrix Potter had a strong interest in natural history and also, through her father, Rupert Potter, who was a keen amateur photographer, some knowledge of photography. She noted on this sheet from October 1896 that the Polyperus Melanopus fungi recorded in the photographs were found on elm logs in Putney Park. In addition to mounting up two photographic prints of the fungi, Potter has added several sketches of spores; the drawings were made at x 600 magnification.

During this period Beatrix Potter was deeply engaged with the collection of fungi and the study of spore germination. She was in conversation with scientists at Kew Gardens, who were not always open to her ideas (which sometimes challenged their own), and was making some scientific discoveries of her own. She submitted her findings to the Director of Kew in December 1896, not long after her work on this sheet. Although he did not receive her work well, the Assistant Director, George Massee, was prepared to believe her findings. Potter continued her research and work on her scientific paper, ‘On the Germination of the Spores of the Agaricineae’, which was read at The Linnean Society of London on 1 April 1897. Her intense engagement with this work did not continue much beyond this period, but her close eye for detail and understanding of the make-up of the natural world would impact her book illustrations.

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read Leslie Linder and the Beatrix Potter collection On his death in 1973, the scholar and collector Leslie Linder (1904 – 73) left the V&A his unrivalled personal collection of about 2,400 Beatrix Potter drawings, manuscripts and books (many of which were first editions owned by Beatrix or her family), as well as photographs by her father R...

Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
contact bromide prints; pencil and pen and ink on paper
Brief description
Two photographs of polypore fungi with annotations and a group of small sketches of spores on the mount by Beatrix Potter, dated 9 October 1896; Linder Bequest cat. no. LB.290
Physical description
Two black and white photographic prints of polypore fungi on a cream mount; on the mount there are annotations in pencil and five small pencil and pen and ink sketches of spores.
Dimensions
  • Sheet height: 35.3cm
  • Sheet width: 25.3cm
Content description
mycology
Production typeUnique
Marks and inscriptions
'Polyporus Melanopus. / On elm logs. Putney Park. Oct 9th. 96. / x 600. / 9 inches in diameter' (inscribed in pencil by Beatrix Potter, lower recto)
Credit line
Linder Bequest [plus object number; written on labels on the same line as the object number]
Object history
Made by Beatrix Potter in October 1896. 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
Association
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.

Beatrix Potter had a strong interest in natural history and also, through her father, Rupert Potter, who was a keen amateur photographer, some knowledge of photography. She noted on this sheet from October 1896 that the Polyperus Melanopus fungi recorded in the photographs were found on elm logs in Putney Park. In addition to mounting up two photographic prints of the fungi, Potter has added several sketches of spores; the drawings were made at x 600 magnification.

During this period Beatrix Potter was deeply engaged with the collection of fungi and the study of spore germination. She was in conversation with scientists at Kew Gardens, who were not always open to her ideas (which sometimes challenged their own), and was making some scientific discoveries of her own. She submitted her findings to the Director of Kew in December 1896, not long after her work on this sheet. Although he did not receive her work well, the Assistant Director, George Massee, was prepared to believe her findings. Potter continued her research and work on her scientific paper, ‘On the Germination of the Spores of the Agaricineae’, which was read at The Linnean Society of London on 1 April 1897. Her intense engagement with this work did not continue much beyond this period, but her close eye for detail and understanding of the make-up of the natural world would impact her book illustrations.
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. p.33; cat. no. LB.290 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.33; no.290
Other number
LB.290 - Linder Bequest catalogue no.
Collection
Library number
BP.357(a)

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Record createdMay 13, 2015
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