Happy Birthday to Beatrix Potter

Beatrix Potter by the back door of Hill Top, Summer 1913 

Helen Beatrix Potter 

Writer & Illustrator

Born: 28 July 1866 - Kensington, London, England

Died: 22 December 1943 (aged 77) - Near Sawrey, Cumbria, England

Happy Birthday dear Miss Potter! It's the 145th anniversary of her birth!
Beatrix Potter was a staple in my home growing up. We always had the books, videos of the books and audio versions of the books to listen to. When my younger sister was born she was given the middle name Beatrix (actually to honor my father's great-aunt Beatrice) her nursery was decorated with Peter Rabbit and his pals. I had great fun in browsing through our set of 12 Beatrix Potter books, my favorite is still The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle [Read Online].

"Once upon a time there were four little Rabbits, and their names were - Flopsy, Mopsy, Cotton-tail, and Peter. They lived with their Mother in a sand-bank, underneath the root of a very big fir-tree."
-The Tale of Peter Rabbit, Beatrix Potter [Read Online]

The 23 Tales

The Tale of Peter Rabbit (1902)

The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin (1903)

The Tailor of Gloucester (1903)

The Tale of Benjamin Bunny (1904)

The Tale of Two Bad Mice (1904)

The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle (1905)

The Tale of the Pie and the Patty-Pan (1905)

The Tale of Mr. Jeremy Fisher (1906)

The Story of A Fierce Bad Rabbit (1906)

The Story of Miss Moppet (1906)

The Tale of Tom Kitten (1907)

The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck (1908)

The Tale of Samuel Whiskers or, The Roly-Poly Pudding (1908)

The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies (1909)

The Tale of Ginger and Pickles (1909)

The Tale of Mrs. Tittlemouse (1910)

The Tale of Timmy Tiptoes (1911)

The Tale of Mr. Tod (1912)

The Tale of Pigling Bland (1913)

Appley Dapply's Nursery Rhymes (1917)

The Tale of Johnny Town-Mouse (1918)

Cecily Parsley's Nursery Rhymes (1922)

The Tale of Little Pig Robinson (1930)

Other books

Peter Rabbit's Painting Book (1911)

Tom Kitten's Painting Book (1917)

Jemima Puddle-Duck's Painting Book (1925)

Peter Rabbit's Almanac for 1929 (1928)

The Fairy Caravan (1929)

Sister Anne (illustrated by Katharine Sturges) (1932)

Wag-by-Wall (decorations by J. J. Lankes) (1944)

The Tale of the Faithful Dove (illustrated by Marie Angel) (1955, 1970)

The Sly Old Cat (written 1906; first published 1971)

Quotes & Photos of  Beatrix Potter

"Thank goodness I was never sent to school; it would have rubbed off some of the originality. " 

- Beatrix Potter

Beatrix at fifteen years with her springer spaniel, Spot

"I cannot rest, I must draw, however poor the result, and when I have a bad time come over me it is a stronger desire than ever." 

- Beatrix Potter, from her Journals

“There is something delicious about writing the first words of a story. You never quite know where they’ll take you.” 

- Beatrix Potter

"I hold an old-fashioned notion that a happy marriage is the crown of a woman's life." 

- Beatrix Potter [Journals 1894]

Beatrix in her early 70's as depicted in a painting done in 1938 by her friend Delmar Banner

"Believe there is a great power silently working all things for good, behave yourself and never mind the rest." 

- Beatrix Potter

"Most people, after one success, are so cringingly afraid of doing less well that they rub all the edge off their subsequent work." 

- Beatrix Potter

"I hate publicity, and I have contrived to survive to be an old woman without it, except in the homey atmosphere of Agricultural Shows." 

- Beatrix Potter [1939 interview]

"I hold that a strongly marked personality can influence descendants for generations." 

- Beatrix Potter

"This a Tale about a tail - a tail that belonged to a little red squirrel, and his name was Nutkin. He had a brother called Twinkleberry, and a great many cousins: they lived in a wood at the edge of a lake."

- The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin, Beatrix Potter [Read Online]

"But still through the nicks in the shutters he could hear the click of thimbles, and little mouse voices singing - 'No more twist! No more twist!'"

- The Tailor of Gloucester, Beatrix Potter

"She set off on a fine spring afternoon along the cart-road that leads over the hill. She was wearing a shawl and a poke bonnet." 

- The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck [Read Online]

'The Lady Mouse Curtseys' 1903

Beatrix Potter Related Links:

• The Home of Peter Rabbit
• The Beatrix Potter Society
• Her books at Project Gutenberg
• Beatrix Potter Wikipedia Page
• Bio at Children's Classics site
• About Miss Potter and her home in The Lake District
• Beatrix Potter Fanpop page
• Beatrix Potter Figurines & Info
• Beatrix Potter in Cumbria

For more info on her life check out the wonderful biographical film Miss Potter!

Miss Potter (2006) 
Starring: Renée Zellweger, Ewan McGregor, Emily Watson

Synopsis: Thirty years old and single, Beatrix Potter lives in London with her social-climbing parents, who are exasperated that she has turned down any number of eligible young men. Her only real friends are the animals which since childhood she has lovingly drawn and made up stories about. She finally succeeds in selling a book of the stories, and it becomes Norman Warne's first project. He quickly falls in love with both the book and Beatrix and together they carefully arrange publication. This proves the first of many successes, offering her the possibility of escaping from both her parents' way of life and London.

Historical Era: Edwardian England, Beatrix Potter - Film Review at Of Trims and Frills and Furbelows, Ribbons of Light & But when a young lady is to be a heroine - Cast List at IMDb - Watch Official Trailer



Which of her books is your favorite? 
Do you have a favorite character?
Have you seen the Miss Potter film?


I hope you enjoy Beatrix Potter's life and work as much as I do!


Very Truly Your's,