The Tale of Peter Rabbit was a much loved story for me
growing up. I don’t actually remember
being read it for story time, but I do remember a set of China plates that sat
in a high cupboard at our house in North Carolina that had the story written
out and illustrated on the plate, bowl and mug.
I was allowed a couple of times a year to eat off the dishes, because
they were ‘very expensive and you have to be a big girl to use them’. I remember thinking it was so exciting to get
to use these dishes – which could be part of the reason I insist on Adam &
I eating off our china all the time. As
I’ve told other stories of my childhood to my parents over the last couple of
years, I’ve realized that my perceived reality and actual reality from 15-20
years ago are sometimes a bit different, but this is how I remember it; at
least until Mother comes back and tells me that the dishes were stoneware not
china and the story was really Cinderella
not Peter Rabbit or something.
Anyway,
we recently went to Beatrix Potter’s studio and country home. She bought the home with the proceeds from
her first book The Tale of Peter Rabbit. I didn’t really know the history of it, but
she had written the story and couldn’t find a publisher so she decided to
illustrate and publish it herself. I
have to think that was a rather big deal in 1901. It sold so well that it was later picked up
by a publishing company along with several of her other concepts that were
later turned into books such as The Tale
of Tom Kitten and The Tale of Mrs.
Tittlemouse.
This year
is Peter’s 110th birthday, so the National Trust (who now own the
house and the studio) have displayed all the original illustrations used for
the first printing of Peter Rabbit. The original illustrations were black pen
drawings with no watercolor additions (the colors were added by the publishing
company during the subsequent printings).
You could even see little bits of whiteout where a line was out of
place. It was truly fascinating to see
the storyboards in their original form.
We
couldn’t take any photos inside, but here are a couple from here (ps-we won't be buying this book...):
After
looking through Beatrix Potter’s house, we also walked through the gardens
while we looked for Peter.
I think
this might have been his great, great, great grandson.
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