December 22, 1923

Beatrix Potter (July 28, 1866 to December 22, 1943), the English writer, has an enduring fame for her children's books. One of these was just recently released, and reviewed:

"Bestselling as Potter was, some of the 24 tales are more enduring than others, as shown by the recently published "The Tale of Kitty-in-Boots", illustrated by Quentin Blake. This overworked tale of a prim black cat with a sporty double life, was written, .... just after Beatrix’s father’s death, while she was caring for her widowed mother alongside managing her new farm. Her failing eyesight perhaps accounts for the lack of original illustrations. ‘The experience [of this family drama]… had denied her pleasure. The results were unhappy,’ which accounts for it lying unpublished until now.

"....[Of Potter's childhood the reviewer writes:] What inspired her was the world beyond the nursery windows, already noting down the fauna she spotted by the roadside at the age of eight. The young naturalist made many original observations of her own, such as that ‘the British smooth newt does, very rarely, utter an extremely sweet whistling note’.

"...Such a characterful view of small creatures soon broadened into full-blown anthropomorphic fantasy, as she acquired multiple pets and dragooned small animals into surrogate friendships. A hedgehog named Mrs Tiggy was trained to drink milk from a miniature teacup; she cut her rabbit Peter’s toenails with a pair of garden scissors; and she enjoyed watching her mice play in a toy house right through into adulthood."

These illustrations are by Quentin Blake, and the second one is from "The Tale of Kitty-in-Boots."

".... Beatrix Potter.... was an artist first and a writer second, ....‘from childhood her drawing had focused on accurate observation… she had no need to rely on imagination in the vulgar sense’. She liked her cats to look like real cats painted from life (albeit always properly dressed ones), not inky sketches..."

This is a lovely summary of the importance of Beatrix Potter:

"Although she could hardly advertise the fact in her children's books, Beatrix Potter was a genuine naturalist, for whom accurate observation was a core value. Those who see her as an anthropomorphiser in the style of the pet trade are doing her an injustice. Throughout her work for children there is an implicit recognition of the ineluctability of the food chain, which her small readers unconsciously absorb, along with a subliminal awareness of the intricacy of the real lives of even the smallest wild creatures."