Beatrix Potter Drawn to Nature

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.

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.