(Helen) Beatrix Potter (1866-1943) was an English author and illustrator, botanist, and conservationist, born in Kensington, London best known for her children’s books, which featured animal characters such as Peter Rabbit. Educated at home by a succession of governesses, she had little opportunity to mix with other children. Potter had frogs and newts, and even a pet bat. The basis of her many projects and stories were the small animals that she smuggled into the house or observed during family holidays in Scotland and the Lake District. She was encouraged to publish her story, The Tale of Peter Rabbit (1902), but she struggled to find a publisher until it was accepted when she was 36, by Frederick Warne & Co. The small book and her following works were extremely well received and she gained an independent income from the sales. Potter eventually wrote 23 books. These were published in a small format, easy for a child to hold and read. Her writing efforts abated around 1920 due to poor eyesight.
Beatrix Potter was born on July 28, 1866, at No 2, Bolton Gardens, Kensington, London. She loved nature and drawing as a child. In 1893, Beatrix sat down to write a picture letter to Noel Moore, the five-year-old son of her ex-governess, all about a naughty rabbit called Peter. Noel was ill in bed and so Beatrix wrote to him: “My dear Noel, I don’t know what to write to you, so I shall tell you a story about four little rabbits….” And that’s how The Tale of Peter Rabbit was created. It wasn’t until 1902 that Frederick Warne published what would become one of the most beloved stories in children’s books.
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