Beatrix Potter and The Sale Of Peter Rabbit

Monday, July 12th, 2010 at 11:31 pm

Children have been reading and enjoying Beatrix Potter Books since 1902. You might recognize some of the more popular stories such as Peter Rabbit and Benjamin Bunny. Most of her other stories utilize a similar template based on animal characters interacting as human beings which have drawn comparisons to Aesop’s fables. Potter, however, had a very specific and somewhat distinct vision for her own books.

The books, from illustrations to stories, were created, developed, and controlled solely by Beatrix Potter. She drew all of her own pictures and even received some acclaim for attention to detail and accuracy which was considerably knowledgeable for a female in the early 20th century.

She would use elements of her personal life frequently in her books. The illustrations of animals were characters based on pets and other animals she had interacted with. Settings would be drawn from what was around her. The themes and plots of her personal life usually found their way into the stories. In one case for instance The Tale of Ginger and Pickle dealt with running a business. It was during this period in her life that Potter was submerging herself in the business and marketing of getting her books sold.

One part of her strategy was to use recurring characters throughout her stories. The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies for instance featured Peter Rabbit as a secondary character. Peter’s cousin, Benjamin Bunny was actually one of the main characters of that story who himself had another book, The Tale of Benjamin Bunny. Though the characters were always animals portrayed as acting human, every book did not contain characters from other books or feature characters that would appear later on in future books such as The Tale of Pigling Bland.

Beatrix Potter’s work was popular enough to attract the attention of other famous historical figures. In one story, an animal eats too much and becomes stuck. This story premise would later be borrowed in a Winnie the Pooh story. Walt Disney, who purchased the rights to the Wind in the Willows and Winnie the Pooh, also approached Potter, but she declined selling the rights.

There are common themes in many Beatrix Potter books. For example; The Tale of Peter Rabbit, The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies, and The Tale of Pigling Bland among most of her other books follow an identical title formula. The characters were always animals acting completely human. Additionally, many of the books have recurring characters. Though she would eventually grow tired of writing children’s tales, she purposefully and decidedly developed and sustained this formula almost without fail throughout her career.