Beatrix Potter - by Annemarie Bilclough (Hardcover)

About the Book

Published to accompany the exhibition Beatrix Potter: Drawn to Nature at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, from February 12, 2022 to January 8, 2023.

Book Synopsis

This beautiful book explores the beloved writer's achievements as a storyteller, artist, and naturalist.

Beatrix Potter's universe of characters--Peter Rabbit, Squirrel Nutkin, Jemima Puddleduck--have delighted audiences for over a century. A creative pioneer and determined entrepreneur, she combined scientific observation with imaginative storytelling to create some of the world's best-loved children's books. This volume showcases Potter's charming charac-ters against the backdrop of her exquisite botanical drawings, humorous illustrated letters to friends, Lake District landscapes, and rarely seen photographs.

Beatrix Potter's endearingly hand-painted world of animals and gardens made her one of the most celebrated children's book authors of all time, yet this is but one facet of her creative life. Drawn to the picturesque English countryside after a London childhood, Potter had a passion for nature that influenced her many achievements as a naturalist, artist, storyteller, and later in life as a fervent conservationist and "gentlewoman" farmer. This book sheds light upon the connections between her art, entrepreneurial success, and legacy in preservation.

Review Quotes

"Precise, expressive watercolor illustrations by [Potter] were the trademark of her books, which have now sold hundreds of millions of copies. Beatrix Potter: Drawn to Nature includes nearly 200 artworks, books, photographs and other objets, from Potter's childhood sketches, already demonstrating a keen eye and a steady hang, to a letter written the week before she died." --WALL STREET JOURNAL

"The accompanying catalog for an exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London collects the "Peter Rabbit" author's drawings, photos and letters." --NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW

"A new book and an exhibition on Potter, who wrote "The Tale of Peter Rabbit," use letters, sketches, and a coded journal to capture an author who delighted in the detail and humor of the natural world." --THE NEW YORKER

"...a gorgeously illustrated monograph...features 200 artworks, manuscripts, photographs, and other artifacts, including little-known scientific drawings." --ARTNET.COM

"In "Beatrix Potter: Drawn to Nature," a gorgeous new book packed with examples of Potter's sketches and watercolors, author Annemarie Bilclough and other contributors underscore the love of nature that informed Potter's work." --CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR

"[A] fascinating and handsome book..." --VERMONT COUNTRY SAMPLER

About the Author

Annemarie Bilclough is curator at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Richard Fortey is an acclaimed natural historian. Sara Glenn is curator for the Victoria and Albert Museum's Beatrix Potter Collection. Emma Laws is the Frederick Warne Curator of Children's Literature, Word & Image at the Victoria and Albert Museum. Liz Hunter MacFarlane is the Project Curator in charge of the National Trust's Beatrix Potter Collection. James Rebanks is author of the best-selling memoir The Shepherd's Life: Modern Dispatches from an Ancient Landscape. Lucy Shaw is a composer who collaborates on live events at the Victoria and Albert Museum.