Printing Block thumbnail 1
Printing Block thumbnail 2
Not currently on display at the V&A

Printing Block

ca. 1900 - ca. 1901 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Printing block: Flopsy, Mopsy and Cottontail with a basket of berries.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Parts
This object consists of 3 parts.

  • Printing Block
  • Print
  • Print
Materials and techniques
Line block etching on zinc, mounted to wood
Brief description
Woodblock, mounted with zinc line block for the first privately printed edition of The Tale of Peter Rabbit. Made by Art Reproduction Company after drawings by Beatrix Potter, ca. 1900-1. Also a modern print taken from the block. Linder Bequest cat. no. LB.2143.
Physical description
Printing block: Flopsy, Mopsy and Cottontail with a basket of berries.
Dimensions
  • Height: 5cm (Note: block)
  • Width: 6cm (Note: block)
Production typeUnique
Gallery label
The line block process faithfully reproduces simple pen and ink outlines. Beatrix Potter had her drawings made into line blocks for her privately published edition of The Tale of Peter Rabbit. As she funded the project herself, she left most images in black and white, partly to save money and partly to imitate the ones she ‘scribbled’ in the first, letter version of her story. She thought an entire book of ‘rabbit-brown and green’ sounded too dull to have in colour.(August 2019)
Credit line
Linder Bequest [plus object number; written on labels on the same line as the object number]
Object history
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.
Subject depicted
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.
Other number
LB.2143 - Linder Bequest catalogue no.
Collection
Library number
BP.1434(B)

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Record createdFebruary 27, 2019
Record URL
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