Mrs. Ribby
Drawing
1908 (made)
1908 (made)
| 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.
The Roly-Poly Pudding (1908) was the second of Potter's books to be issued in a large format (the first large-format book, The Pie and the Patty-Pan, was published in 1905). The larger format allowed for more illustrations, in particular sepia line drawings as well as colour illustrations. In her line drawings, such as this unfinished sketch of Mrs. Ribby poking the hearth with her umbrella, Potter suggests movement and expression in just a few lines. Blank spaces are never redundant - like Randolph Caldecott, an artist she claimed to copy, Potter mastered the 'art of leaving out', regarding space and line as equal components in her illustrations.
Potter drew inspiration for her story of the two rats, Samuel Whiskers and Anna Maria, from her Lake District farmhouse, Hill Top. A year after purchasing the house, she wrote to her friend, Millie Warne, 'The rats have come back in great force; two big ones were trapped in the shed here, besides turning out a nest of eight baby rats in the cucumber frame opposite the door' (4 October 1906). Whilst renovating the house Potter decided to keep the fireplace, 'wanted for the next book'. Hill Top became the setting for the story and can still be identified in her book illustrations today.
Potter presented her finished manuscript of The Roly-Poly Pudding to Winifred Warne (the daughter of her publisher, Fruing Warne) for Christmas in 1906. The book was finally published in 1908 and dedicated to Potter's pet white rat, Sammy. In 1926 the book was re-issued in the small format to complement the other books in the series. The finished version of this illustration appears on page 16 of Warne's 2002 edition, alongside the text:
"I'm not afraid of rats; I will help
you to find him; and whip him too!
What is all that soot in the fender?"
The Roly-Poly Pudding (1908) was the second of Potter's books to be issued in a large format (the first large-format book, The Pie and the Patty-Pan, was published in 1905). The larger format allowed for more illustrations, in particular sepia line drawings as well as colour illustrations. In her line drawings, such as this unfinished sketch of Mrs. Ribby poking the hearth with her umbrella, Potter suggests movement and expression in just a few lines. Blank spaces are never redundant - like Randolph Caldecott, an artist she claimed to copy, Potter mastered the 'art of leaving out', regarding space and line as equal components in her illustrations.
Potter drew inspiration for her story of the two rats, Samuel Whiskers and Anna Maria, from her Lake District farmhouse, Hill Top. A year after purchasing the house, she wrote to her friend, Millie Warne, 'The rats have come back in great force; two big ones were trapped in the shed here, besides turning out a nest of eight baby rats in the cucumber frame opposite the door' (4 October 1906). Whilst renovating the house Potter decided to keep the fireplace, 'wanted for the next book'. Hill Top became the setting for the story and can still be identified in her book illustrations today.
Potter presented her finished manuscript of The Roly-Poly Pudding to Winifred Warne (the daughter of her publisher, Fruing Warne) for Christmas in 1906. The book was finally published in 1908 and dedicated to Potter's pet white rat, Sammy. In 1926 the book was re-issued in the small format to complement the other books in the series. The finished version of this illustration appears on page 16 of Warne's 2002 edition, alongside the text:
"I'm not afraid of rats; I will help
you to find him; and whip him too!
What is all that soot in the fender?"
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Title | Mrs. Ribby (generic title) |
| Materials and techniques | Pencil and pen and ink on paper |
| Brief description | Pencil and pen and ink drawing of Mrs. Ribby by Beatrix Potter, 1908; preliminary drawing for 'The Roly-Poly Pudding' (later renamed 'The Tale of Samuel Whiskers') published by Frederick Warne & Co. in 1908; Linder Bequest cat. no. LB.779. |
| Physical description | Pencil and pen and ink drawing on paper of a cat, Mrs. Ribby, holding an umbrella in her right paw. The cat's head and paws are sketched in pen and ink, the rest of the body in pencil. In the background is an interior scene of a room with an open door leading outside and a bay window with curtains pulled to one side. |
| Dimensions |
|
| Production type | Unique |
| Marks and inscriptions | 'p.16' (Pencil mark on verso) |
| Credit line | Linder Bequest [plus object number; written on labels on the same line as the object number] |
| Object history | Drawn by Beatrix Potter in 1908 for The Roly-Poly Pudding (later renamed The Tale of Samuel Whiskers). Acquired by the V&A from Leslie Linder (1904-1973) as part of the Linder Bequest in 1973. |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Literary reference | Preliminary drawing for the illustration on p.16 of the 2002 edition of <u>The Tale of Samuel Whiskers or The Roly-Poly Pudding</u> (first published by Frederick Warne & Co. in 1908). |
| 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. The Roly-Poly Pudding (1908) was the second of Potter's books to be issued in a large format (the first large-format book, The Pie and the Patty-Pan, was published in 1905). The larger format allowed for more illustrations, in particular sepia line drawings as well as colour illustrations. In her line drawings, such as this unfinished sketch of Mrs. Ribby poking the hearth with her umbrella, Potter suggests movement and expression in just a few lines. Blank spaces are never redundant - like Randolph Caldecott, an artist she claimed to copy, Potter mastered the 'art of leaving out', regarding space and line as equal components in her illustrations. Potter drew inspiration for her story of the two rats, Samuel Whiskers and Anna Maria, from her Lake District farmhouse, Hill Top. A year after purchasing the house, she wrote to her friend, Millie Warne, 'The rats have come back in great force; two big ones were trapped in the shed here, besides turning out a nest of eight baby rats in the cucumber frame opposite the door' (4 October 1906). Whilst renovating the house Potter decided to keep the fireplace, 'wanted for the next book'. Hill Top became the setting for the story and can still be identified in her book illustrations today. Potter presented her finished manuscript of The Roly-Poly Pudding to Winifred Warne (the daughter of her publisher, Fruing Warne) for Christmas in 1906. The book was finally published in 1908 and dedicated to Potter's pet white rat, Sammy. In 1926 the book was re-issued in the small format to complement the other books in the series. The finished version of this illustration appears on page 16 of Warne's 2002 edition, alongside the text: "I'm not afraid of rats; I will help you to find him; and whip him too! What is all that soot in the fender?" |
| Bibliographic reference | 'Hobbs and Whalley, Beatrix Potter : the V&A Collection, London, 1985'
Brief catalogue entry, no. 779. |
| Other number | LB.779 - Linder Bequest catalogue no. |
| Collection | |
| Library number | BP.1131B |
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| Record created | June 12, 2008 |
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