We are a bit late in wishing her a happy birthday, but it was Beatrix Potter’s birthday on Tuesday (28th July)
Her most famous character, Peter Rabbit, started life in a letter to a sick child in 1893. She wrote and illustrated it to cheer the little boy up and it was so well received she went on to self-publish a small run of copies in 1901 before a publisher took it on.
It has now sold more than 40 million copies, which is pretty good going.
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A few things you may not know:
Beatrix Potter had a passion for Herdwick Sheep and won many prizes as a noted farmer as well as an author.
She went on to own more than 4,000 acres of the Lake District comprising of 16 farms, the vast majority of which was left to the National Trust after her death.
A previously lost Beatrix Potter book, ‘The Tale of Kitty-in-Boots’, was discovered in the archives of the Victoria and Albert Museum and published for the first time in 2016. The illustrations for this story were provided by Quentin Blake.
Beatrix Potter is distantly related to the Princess of Wales.
