BOOKS ABOUT BEATRIX POTTER

The Society has published an annotated Guide to Books About Beatrix Potter, which gives a brief description of the more important books on various aspects of Beatrix Potter's life and work.

The Society also issues a List of its own publications and merchandise, see below.

The quarterly Newsletter, issued free to Members, contains articles on a wide range of topics, from Beatrix Potter’s art and writings to her later life as sheep farmer and conservationist, as well as information about meetings and visits, reviews of books and exhibitions, Members’ letters and news of Beatrix Potter collections in the United Kingdom and elsewhere. It also contains items of interest to collectors and news of Potter merchandise.

The Society has an active publishing programme which includes the proceedings of its biennial Study Conferences and other works of original research, including memoirs and letters

NEW PUBLICATIONS AND MERCHANDISE 2005 - 2008

A JEMIMA POSTCARD! This preparatory sketch for the binding case of The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck was originally owned by Leslie Linder. The present owner, a Society Member, has kindly given permission for its reproduction. The cards are cream and measure 16 x 11.5 cm (6” x 4”) They are blank on one side and are sold in packs of 5 with envelopes. Prices At meetings      £1.50 Mail Order        UK  £2.50          Overseas  £3.50 Please click here to access our publications order form.

BEATRIX POTTER STUDIES XII Beatrix Potter: Sources of her Inspiration

What were the various strands in Beatrix Potter's early life which combined to make her the writer and artist she became? Speakers at the Society's Twelfth International Study Conference in 2006 considered the various influences on her and on her work. Their talks are presented in this latest volume in the series Beatrix Potter Studies. Peter Hollindale considers Beatrix's prose style: her care for the right word and even the punctuation of her sentences, and also her respect for the intelligence of her young audience. Anne Hobbs in her article 'Art into Books' looks at the way various experiences and early sketches were eventually melded together to produce the well-known book versions of her illustrations. But where did some of these ideas come from? Brian Alderson muses on the books which may have been in Rupert Potter's library or in Beatrix's own possession in 'Sources on the Nursery Bookshelf'. Kate Chandler looks at her attitude to the natural world and its important effect on the little books, while John Cawood challenges the significance of the Lake District landscape in Beatrix's work with a sub-title 'Inspirational or Just Important?' The volume concludes with an article by Judy Taylor on Beatrix's wide range of pets, from the conventional to the unexpected - such as snails! Coloured cover (soft), black-and-white illustrations, bibliography and index. 90 pages        21 x 15 cm (approx 8¼ x 5¾ ins)       ISBN 978 1 869980 24 5 PRICES At meetings   £10   Mail order (inc. packing and postage – airmail overseas)   UK: £11.50         Overseas: £13.50 Please click here for our publications order form.

BEATRIX POTTER US STUDIES I This publication contains the talks from the first USA International Study Conference in November 2005 at The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, Amherst, Massachusetts. Lolly Robinson reveals the close friendship that built up, through their correspondence, between Beatrix Potter and Bertha Mahony Miller. Karen Lightner explores the extensive Potter Collection of the Rare Book Department of the Free Library of Philadelphia. Ivy Trent gives the story of The Beatrix Potter Collection of Lloyd Cotsen, and there is the report of the panel discussion with three writers concerned with telling Beatrix Potter’s story, Judy Taylor, Linda Lear and Susan Wittig Albert. The task of tracing the myriad Potter piracies in the USA is tackled by Carol Halebian, Jan Powers writes about her Beatrix Potter themed garden, and the USA organisers of Reading Beatrix Potter and Introducing Beatrix Potter, Dale Schafer and Barbara Diment, bring the progress of both schemes in the USA up-to-date. ISBN 1 869980 23 9    82 pages          Illustrated in black-and-white PRICES At meetings   £10   Mail order (inc. packing and postage – airmail overseas)   UK: £11.00           Overseas: £13.00 Please click here to access our publications order form.

Two delightful new Society Greeting Cards!

‘ Hedgehogs’ A new note card.                                              Blank inside. Three sketches from the sheet of drawings by Beatrix Potter bought at auction by the Society in 2005 with an anonymous donation. They are probably preliminary sketches for ‘Old Mr Prickly Pin’ and intended for the 1905 book of verse, which was never published. PRICE for pack of five cards (including post + packing):      UK: £2.25 Overseas £3.25 Please click here to access our publications order form.

Our first Christmas card ‘ Lost Opportunities’ Copy of a card by Beatrix Potter bought at auction by The Beatrix Potter Society in 1994. Originally published as a card by Hildesheimer & Faulkner in 1890, it shows two rabbits passing in the street, the gentleman rabbit hopefully carrying a sprig of mistletoe. Entitled ‘Lost Opportunities’ it is also the picture which accompanies Frederic E. Weatherly’s verses in ‘A Happy Pair’.                                                          blank inside PRICE for pack of five cards (including post + packing):           UK: £3.00 Overseas £4.00 Please click here to access our publications order form.

BEATRIX POTTER SOCIETY BAGS Cloth bags with the Society logo are now available. The bags are made of natural coloured cotton, measure 16.5 x 15ins (42 x 38 cm) and have long handles to carry on one shoulder. Our ‘mouse reading’ logo is printed in dark brown water based ink and the supplier is based in Coniston, Cumbria – and this is where the printing was done. The bags will be available at meetings at £3.50 each. Mail order prices are: ...UK £4.50....Overseas £5.50 To order a bag, please click here to access our publications order form.

BOOKMARK In 2005 the Society produced a delightful woven silk Bookmark especially to commemorate the 25th anniversary of its founding in 1980. The Bookmark shows ‘Miss Moppet’s Mouse’ an unused watercolour for The Story of Miss Moppet and now owned by one of our Members. Price UK £6 Overseas £7 (including airmail postage)   Please click here to access our publications order form.

The main function of the Society’s Publications Committee is to produce in permanent book form the talks given at the biennial Study Conferences. These are published under the general title of Beatrix Potter Studies and full details of each volume so far issued will be found in this document. In addition, the Society has published other talks and works of original research, often based on material in the Society’s possession. These, together with items of merchandise produced exclusively for the Society, are listed below.

Prices for all these items can be found on the order form.

Gentleman Rabbit with Letter	Duchess in Sawrey	Jemima postcard	"Lost Opportunities" Christmas Card

Preliminary sketches for "Old Mr Prickly Pin"	Miss Moppet’s Mouse	Camfield Mouse

Please click here to access our publications order form.

The Tale o Peter Kinnen. Owerset intae Scots bi Lynne McGeachie. July 2004
This translation of The Tale of Peter Rabbit, with the text in Scots, was launched at the opening reception of the Society’s Eleventh International Study Conference in Birnam, Perthshire, on 16 July 2004. It is in the same format, with re-originated full colour illustrations and type, as the edition published in 2002 by Frederick Warne to celebrate the first publication of the book in 1902.
Hardback 5.75 x 4.5 ins. 72 pages     ISBN 1 869980 21 2

A CD-R recording of Lynne McGeachie reading the Tale o Peter Kinnen is also available.

A Beatrix Potter Photograph Album: A selection of family photographs taken by her father Rupert Potter. (Introduction by Irene Whalley) 1993
Issued to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of Beatrix Potter’s death in December 1943, this booklet contains a number of previously unpublished photographs from glass negatives in the Society’s possession.
ISBN I 869980 07 7

The Choyce Letters: Beatrix Potter to Louie Choyce, 1916-1943. Edited by Judy Taylor. 1994
In 1916, Beatrix Potter wrote to The Times about the shortage of labour on small farms in wartime. As a result of this letter, Louie Choyce went to work for her and a friendship developed which lasted until Beatrix’s death in 1943. With the permission of Louie Choyce’s nephew, who owns the letters, and with his Introduction, the Society has published all thirty-eight of the letters from Beatrix Potter to his aunt. They reveal much that is new about Beatrix Potter’s life during the period covered by the correspondence.
Illustrated with photographs and sketches.
ISBN I 869980 09 3

Beatrix Potter: A Holiday Diary, with a short history of the Warne family. Edited by Judy Taylor. 1996
Bought by the Society at Sotheby’s in 1994, the Diary was written by Beatrix Potter in 1905 while on holiday with her family in Wales, and it spans the last two weeks of the life of her fiancé and editor Norman Warne. An introduction sets the scene, and there is a short history of the Warne Family by Judy Taylor based on unpublished diaries and letters. Illustrated with photographs and sketches, and with seven of Beatrix Potter’s watercolours reproduced in colour. ISBN I 869980 11 5

Beatrix Potter’s Farming Friendship: Lake District Letters to Joseph Moscrop, 1926-1943.
Edited by Judy Taylor. 1998
Joseph Moscrop was the shepherd who came down every year from the Scottish Borders to help with the lambing at Troutbeck Park Farm. These letters begin just as Beatrix was taking over the running of this large farm, and are mainly concerned with farming matters. The final letter is Beatrix’s moving farewell to Joseph written just ten days before she died. There is a short biography of her uncle by Rosalind Moscrop, an outline history of Troutbeck Park Farm by Judy Taylor, and ‘The Fell Farmer’s Year’ by Christopher Hanson-Smith. Illustrated
ISBN I 869980 13 1

Through The Pages of My Life, and my Encounters with Beatrix Potter, By Willow Taylor. 2000
Winner of a Lakeland Book of the Year award in 2001.
For over seventy years Willow Taylor (nee Burns) lived in the small Lake District village of Near Sawrey. As the daughter of the landlord of the Tower Bank Arms, she grew up as part of the village. In those days Sawrey possessed a shop, a confectioners, a smithy, a carpenter, a timber merchant, a post office and five working farms, one of which was Hill Top, owned by Mrs William Heelis, better known by the rest of the world as Beatrix Potter. In her memoirs, Willow Taylor recalls her childhood in Sawrey when Beatrix Potter was alive, and tells of the changes that have taken place since. Her account is illustrated with photographs.
ISBN I 869980 17 4

Aesop in the Shadows, by Peter Hollindale. 2000
This is the text of Peter Hollindale’s Linder Memorial Lecture for The Beatrix Potter Society, delivered at the Royal Entomological Society, London, in May 1997. It is reprinted by the permission of the Editor of Signal, where it appeared in Number 89, May 1999. In his talk Peter Hollindale has 'tried to show that everywhere in Potter’s work we find both the artist and the natural scientist'. The title is taken from the dedication to The Tale of Johnny Town-Mouse and used to depict yet another fascinating aspect of Beatrix Potter’s work.
ISBN 1 869980 18 2

CONFERENCE PAPERS

The Beatrix Potter Society’s International Study Conferences have been held every other year since 1984 and the Society publishes the major talks from each Conference. Much original work has been presented by experts in various fields, who come from a number of different countries, as do the Conference participants. The subject matter of the first two Conferences was fairly general and so neither Volume I nor II were given titles. Later Conferences followed a definite theme, and this is reflected in the titles given to subsequent volumes. Each publication has a coloured cover and illustrations in the text.

Beatrix Potter Studies I (1984 Conference, Ambleside) 1985, reprinted 1992
Beatrix Potter and the National Trust, by Christopher Hanson-Smith (UK)
Beatrix Potter, the writer, by Brian Alderson (UK)
Beatrix Potter, the artist, by Irene Whalley (UK)
Beatrix Potter collections in the British Isles, by Anne Hobbs (UK)
Beatrix Potter collections in America, by Jane Morse (USA)
Beatrix Potter and her funguses, by Mary Noble (UK)
An Introduction to the ballet film ‘Tales of Beatrix Potter’, by Jane Pritchard (UK)
ISBN I 869980 00 X

Beatrix Potter Studies II (1986 Conference, Ambleside) 1987
Lake District natural history and Beatrix Potter, by John Clegg (UK)
The Beatrix Potter collection at the Free Library of Philadelphia: the first forty years,
by Howard J Heaney (USA)
Collecting Beatrix Potter, by Doris Frohnsdorff (USA)
Beatrix Potter piracies and sequels, by Selwyn Goodacre (UK)
Bertram Potter and the Scottish Borders, by Liz Taylor (UK)
The Herdwick Sheep of Cumbria, by Christopher Hanson-Smith (UK)
ISBN I 869980 01 8

Beatrix Potter Studies III: Beatrix Potter before Peter Rabbit (1988 Conference, Perth) 1989
Children’s books during the childhood of Beatrix Potter, by Ruari McLean (UK)
Beatrix Potter and the anthropomorphic impulse, by Lionel Lambourne (UK)
Beatrix Potter before Peter Rabbit: her art work, by Irene Whalley (UK)
Beatrix Potter’s writings: some literary and linguistic influences – with a Scottish slant,
by Anne Hobbs (UK)
The Potters on Holiday, by Judy Taylor (UK)
Beatrix Potter and the Perthshire natural history, by Michael A. Taylor (UK)
Scotland and Perthshire in the 19th century, by Mary Noble (UK)
ISBN I 869980 02 6

Beatrix Potter studies IV: Beatrix Potter and Mrs. Heelis (1990 Conference, Lancaster) 1991
Beatrix Potter and her Lake District, by Christopher Hanson-Smith (UK)
Beatrix Potter through her letters, by Judy Taylor (UK)
American Discoveries, by Jane Morse (USA)
Hawkshead and the Heelis Family, by John Heelis (UK)
Mrs. Heelis settles in, by Elisabeth Battrick (UK)
Beatrix Potter and the Monk Coniston Estate, by Susan Denyer (UK)
The making of the TV film ‘Beatrix Potter: the early life’, by Mike Healey (UK)
ISBN I 869980 05 0

Beatrix Potter Studies V: Beatrix Potter’s Little Books (!992 Conference, Ambleside) 1993
The case of Peter Rabbit (and others), some reflections on ‘ the impossibility of children’s fiction’,
by Brian Alderson (UK)
Beatrix Potter in Japan, by Ruriko Otsuki (Japan)
The little books: protocols of reading, by Margaret Meek (UK)
American reactions to Beatrix Potter and her little books, by Betsy Wilkens (USA)
Beatrix Potter in France, by Janie Coitit-Godfrey (France)
A personal response to the book pictures of Beatrix Potter, by Selwyn Goodacre (UK)
ISBN I 869980 06 9

Beatrix Potter Studies VI: Beatrix Potter’s Attitudes and Enthusiasms
(1994 Conference, Ambleside) 1995
Beatrix Potter as observer and recorder of the social scene, by Joyce Irene Whalley (UK)
Beatrix Potter: one of nature’s conservatives, by Robert Leeson (UK)
Beatrix Potter and the London art scene in the 1880s and 1890s, by Michael Wilson (UK)
Heck, mell and bink: cross passages between Lakeland farmhouses and the American colonies,
by Victoria Slowe (UK)
The humour of Beatrix Potter, by Selwyn Goodacre (UK)
ISBN I 869980 10 7

Index to Volumes I-VI. Compiled by E. Jacobsen and V. Simmons 1998

Beatrix Potter Studies VII:
Beatrix Potter and the Lake District (1996 Conference, Ambleside) 1997
On Location with Beatrix Potter, by John Nettleton (UK)
Lakeland folklore and tradition, by William Rollinson (UK)
Canon Rawnsley and the National Trust, by Elizabeth Battrick (UK)
Beatrix Potter and the decorative arts, by Susan Denyer (UK)
Beatrix Potter’s American neighbour, Rebecca Owen, by Jane Morse (USA)
The Fairy Caravan ‘explained’, by Karen Lightner (USA)
Americans look at Beatrix Potter, by Elaine R. Jacobsen (USA)
ISBN I 869980 12 3

Beatrix Potter Studies VIII:
Beatrix Potter as Writer and Illustrator. (1998 Conference, Ambleside) 1999
Beatrix Potter’s fiction: real stories for children, by Nicholas Tucker (UK)
Animal stories since Beatrix Potter and her influence on the genre, by Peter Hollindale (UK)
How Beatrix Potter’s childhood reading influenced her writing style, by Dale Schafer (USA)
Natural companions: text and illustration in the work of Beatrix Potter,
by Catherine J. Golden (USA)
Beatrix Potter and the illustration of children’s books, by Joyce Irene Whalley (UK)
Beatrix Potter as letter writer, by Judy Taylor (UK)
ISBN I 869980 15 8

Beatrix Potter Studies IX:
Working on the Beatrix Potter Jigsaw (2000 Conference, Ambleside) 2001
Checking the Record: the Beatrix Potter Society in Retrospect, by Irene Whalley (UK)
Keeping the Pieces Together: the Beatrix Potter Jigsaw in the United Kingdom, by Judy Taylor (UK)
Context and Content: Working on Beatrix Potter's Art, by Anne Stevenson Hobbs (UK)
Pieces of the Jigsaw - Beatrix Potter's Art in the United States: Exhibitions, Collections and Popular Media,
by Betsy Bray (USA)
Beatrix Potter and Natural History, by Peter Hollindale (UK)
Mischievous Mushrooms: Beatrix Potter's Affair with Fungi - Facts and Misunderstandings, by Roy Watling (UK)
Pleasant Visits: Beatrix Potter and Americans, by Jane Crowell Morse (USA)
It All Started at Wray, by Christopher Hanson-Smith (UK)
Restoring the Countryside Legacy, by Paul Farrington (UK)

Beatrix Potter Studies X: Where Next, Peter Rabbit? (2002 Conference, Ambleside) 2003
A Vogue for Small Books: The Tale of Peter Rabbit and its Contemporary Competitors,
by Laura Stevenson (USA)
The Typographic Adventures of The Tale of Peter Rabbit, by Douglas Martin (UK)
The Frederick Warne Archive and Beatrix Potter, by Elizabeth Booth (UK)
The Challenge of Reading Beatrix Potter, by Lynne McGeachie (UK) and Dale Schafer (USA)
Developing Children’s Responses to the ‘Little Books’ using Worksheets,
by Bridget Welsh Donaldson (UK)
Beatrix Potter Overseas: Peter Rabbit in Russia, by Nina Demourova,
A case of distortions (Japan), by Shin-ichi Yoshida
and The Perils Peter Rabbit has faced in Lithuania, by Kestutis Urba
Beatrix Potter’s Sideshows, by Nicholas Durbridge (UK)
Gardening with Beatrix Potter, by Peter Parker (UK)
ISBN 1 869980 20 4

Beatrix Potter Studies XI: Beatrix Potter’s Family and Friends (2004 Conference, Birnam) 2005
The Potters’ Perthshire Holiday Homes and Surroundings, by David C Duncan (UK)
The Significance of Dalguise for Beatrix Potter, by David C Duncan (UK)
A Genial Man: Edmund Potter and his Calico Printing Work, by Rowena Godfrey (UK)
The Potters in London, by Joyce Irene Whalley (UK)
Canon Rawnsley – Europe’s ‘most active volcano’!, by John Nettleton (UK)
Beatrix Potter and the Moores, by Selwyn Goodacre (UK)
Beatrix Potter’s American Friends, by Lolly Robinson (USA)
Beatrix Potter’s Dogs, by Betsy Bray (USA)
ISBN 1 869980 22 0

Beatrix Potter Studies XII: Beatrix Potter, Sources of her Inspiration (2006 Conference, Ambleside) 2007
Beatrix Potter’s Prose Style, by Peter Hollindale (UK)
Art into Books, by  Anne Hobbs (UK)
Sources on the Nursery Bookshelf, by Brian Alderson (UK)
‘Every Stone, Every Tree’: ‘Thorough’; Nature in Beatrix Potter’s Little Books, by Katherine Chandler (USA)
The Lake District Landscape – Inspirational or Just Important?, by John Cawood (UK)
‘An Affectionate Companion and a Quiet Friend’: Beatrix Potter’s Pets as Sources of her Inspiration, by Judy Taylor (UK)
ISBN 978 1 869980 24 5

Beatrix Potter US Studies I, Beatrix Potter in America (2005 Conference, Amherst, MA) 2006.
Bertha Mahony Miller: Friend and Bookwoman, by Lolly Robinson (USA)
The Beatrix Potter Collection in The Free Library of Philadelphia, by Karen Lightner (USA)
Peter Rabbit finds Mercury in Retrograde: The Story of the Beatrix Potter Collection of Lloyd Cotsen, by Ivy Trent (USA)
Telling her Life: Biographical Perspectives on Beatrix Potter, by Judy Taylor (UK), Susan Wittig Albert (USA) and Linda Lear (USA). Led by Jane Crowell Morse (USA)
Peter Rabbit Piracies in America, by Carol Halebian (USA)
In the Garden with Peter Rabbit and Frineds, by Jan Powers (USA)
Reading Beatrix Potter in the United States, by Dale Schafer (USA)
Introducing Beatrix Potter in the /United States, by Barbara Diment (USA)
82 pages    ISBN 1 869980 23 9  

MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS

Cloth bags with the Society logo. These bags are made of natural coloured cotton, measure 16.5 x 15ins (42 x 38 cm) and have long handles to carry on one shoulder. Our ‘mouse reading’ logo is printed in dark brown water based ink.

Newsletter Binders
Cordex self-binding cases in blue designed to hold 24 issues of the Newsletter. Titled in silver and blocked with the Society’s ‘Mouse Reading’ logo.

Back Numbers of the Society’s Newsletter
Cumulative Indexes to the Newsletters, covering numbers 1-50 and 51-60, compiled by Elaine Jacobsen are also available, free to Members of the Society.
ISBN 0260 3780

25th anniversary bookmark
In 2005 the Society produced a delightful woven silk Bookmark especially to commemorate the 25th anniversary of its founding in 1980. The Bookmark shows ‘Miss Moppet’s Mouse’ an unused watercolour for The Story of Miss Moppet and now owned by one of our Members.    
Price UK £6 Overseas £7 (including airmail postage)

AVAILABLE TO MEMBERS ONLY

Near Sawrey: An Illustrated Map with Descriptive Text
Research and text by Marian Werner. Illustrations by Richard Pearson. 1999
Issued to commemorate the twentieth anniversary of the Society’s foundation in 1980, this map, illustrated in colour, shows the buildings and other places mentioned or depicted by Beatrix Potter. It is accompanied by ten pages of explanatory notes. Limited Edition.
ISBN I 869980 16 6

The Society Badge
Enamelled in pink and cream with gold lettering, oval in shape and depicting our logo of the ‘Mouse Reading’, surrounded by the name of the Society.

NON-SOCIETY PUBLICATIONS

For the benefit of Members we stock a small range of books which are not published by the Society but which may be difficult to obtain through book shops.

Beatrix Potter, artist, storyteller and scientist, by John Clegg FLS FMA
Torquay Natural History Society, 1989
ISBN I 869986 55 5

The Tale of London Past: Beatrix Potter’s archaeological paintings from the Armitt Collection.
Text by Eileen Jay & Jenny Hall. Ambleside & London, The Armitt Trust & Frederick Warne, 1990
ISBN 07232 5304 8

A Fascinating Acquaintance: Charles McIntosh and Beatrix Potter, their common bond in the natural history of the Dunkeld area.
By Michael Taylor and Robin Roger. Perth, Perth Museum & Art Gallery, 1989
Updated and re-printed with the support of the Beatrix Potter Society, 1995
Revised, redesigned & republished with the support of the Beatrix Potter Society, 2003

Beatrix Potter’s Derwentwater currently not available
By W. Bartlett and J. I. Whalley. With Original illustrations by Beatrix Potter. Featuring self guided walks following in the tracks of Benjamin Bunny, Squirrel Nutkin, and Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle.
London, Frederick Warne, 1988; reprinted Hawes, Leading Edge, 1995
ISBN 0 948135 57 3