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That Naughty Rabbit: Beatrix Potter and Peter Rabbit

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First published privately by the author in 1901, Peter Rabbit was accepted for wider publication the following year, after the author was persuaded to redo the illustrations in color--and it has never been out of print since. Beatrix Potter's own story begins with a small girl's devotion to her pet rabbit and ends with her bequest of extensive areas of Britain's Lake District to the National Trust, land which she had bought with the royalties from "that naughty rabbit."--Publisher description.

96 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1987

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About the author

Beatrix Potter

3,349 books2,181 followers
Helen Beatrix Potter was an English author, illustrator, mycologist, and conservationist who is best known for her children's books, which featured animal characters such as Peter Rabbit.

Born into a wealthy household, Potter was educated by governesses and grew up isolated from other children. She had numerous pets, and through holidays in Scotland and the Lake District, developed a love of landscape, flora, and fauna, all of which she closely observed and painted. Because she was a woman, her parents discouraged intellectual development, but her study and paintings of fungi led her to be widely respected in the field of mycology.

In her thirties, Potter published the highly successful children's book The Tale of Peter Rabbit and became secretly engaged to her publisher, Norman Warne, causing a breach with her parents, who disapproved of his social status. Warne died before the wedding.

Potter eventually published 24 children's books, the most recent being The Tale of Kitty-in-Boots (2016), and having become financially independent of her parents, was able to buy a farm in the Lake District, which she extended with other purchases over time.

In her forties, she married a local solicitor, William Heelis. She became a sheep breeder and farmer while continuing to write and illustrate children's books. Potter died in 1943 and left almost all of her property to The National Trust in order to preserve the beauty of the Lake District as she had known it, protecting it from developers.

Potter's books continue to sell well throughout the world, in multiple languages. Her stories have been retold in various formats, including a ballet, films, and in animation.

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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
Profile Image for J.F. Duncan.
Author 12 books2 followers
April 17, 2024
Exactly what I'd been looking for, well illustrated and thoughtfully updated from the original edition to include some really detailed information about the design and re-design of Beatrix Potter's 'Little Books'. Well written and quick to read as well. Highly recommended, although the bibliography at the back of the book has started me off down at least two other 'rabbit holes'!
Profile Image for Julia’s Bento.
34 reviews2 followers
September 25, 2013
I suppose I expected more, but it is what it is. It is a literal look into when she began the idea of Peter Rabbit, how it was published, and what types of changes she did to each print run, with a dash of her life events that went along with it. In terms of the images; family photos, sketches, letters, and some thumbnail images of some of the print runs are shown.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews