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| Beatrix was born 150 years ago today. |
Helen Beatrix Potter (28 July 1866 – 22
December 1943) was an English writer, illustrator, natural scientist, and
conservationist best known for her children's books featuring animals, such as
those in The Tale of Peter Rabbit.
Born into a privileged household, Potter
was educated by governesses and grew up isolated from other children. She had
numerous pets and spent holidays in Scotland and the Lake District, developing
a love of landscape, flora and fauna, all of which she closely observed and
painted.
Though Potter was typical of women of her
generation in having limited opportunities for higher education, her study and
watercolors of fungi led to her being widely respected in the field of
mycology. In her thirties, Potter published the highly successful children's
book, The Tale of Peter Rabbit. Potter began writing and illustrating
children's books full-time.
The Tale of Peter Rabbit is a British
children's book written and illustrated by Beatrix Potter that follows
mischievous and disobedient young Peter Rabbit as he is chased about the garden
of Mr. McGregor. He escapes and returns home to his mother who puts him to bed
after dosing him with camomile tea. The tale was written for five-year-old Noel
Moore, son of Potter's former governess Annie Carter Moore, in 1893. It was
revised and privately printed by Potter in 1901 after several publishers'
rejections but was printed in a trade edition by Frederick Warne & Co. in
1902. The book was a success, and multiple reprints were issued in the years
immediately following its debut. It has been translated into 36 languages and
with 45 million copies sold it is one of the best-selling books of all time.
