The Tale of Peter Rabbit was finally published, on 2 October , and was a huge success. The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin and The Tailor of Gloucester, which had both started life as letters to the Moore children, followed in quick succession.
The entrepreneurial spirit surfaced again, as she segued into merchandising. As early as she had made a painted Peter Rabbit doll. Other spin-offs included painting books, board games, wallpaper, figurines, baby blankets and china tea-sets.
She had fallen in love with her editor, Norman Warne, one of the sons of the publishing house. Her parents were opposed to the match as they considered a man working in a trade to be their social inferior. Despite their objections, the pair became engaged, but it was not to last long, as Warne tragically died of pernicious anaemia soon after, aged just As a successful author and businesswoman, Beatrix was making her own fortune.
She also received an inheritance from an aunt. However, as an unmarried woman, she remained living with her parents. The tenant farmer John Cannon and his family stayed on at the farm, managing it, while she set about learning all she could about fell farming and livestock husbandry.
She added to her land at every opportunity, purchasing neighbouring lands to add to the estate. It was through her land purchases that she met her husband. Beatrix was 47 when she married William Heelis, the local solicitor who had acted on her behalf. Her parents, once again, disapproved of her choice, but her mind was made up and the couple married, on 15 October , in London at St Mary Abbots, in Kensington.
She was also active in the local community, establishing a Nursing Trust for local villages and serving on various committees and councils.
The impression made upon young Beatrix by Hardwicke Rawnsley had lasted all this time and she adhered to the values and principles of the National Trust, making every effort to preserve her buildings and barns in keeping with the aesthetics of the rural area.
Overall she bought 15 farms, saving lands from development, and was deeply involved in the rural life. Beatrix Potter was a very clever business woman. She recognized that readers of her animal books would buy other items connected with the stories. She designed and produced a Peter Rabbit doll, and agreed that the rest of the Beatrix Potter characters should be made into other items, such as tea sets, wallpaper, Peter Rabbit games and figurines.
Even though she was a huge success, Potter was something of a disappointment to her mother, who had wanted a daughter to escort her on social calls and marry someone rich. In , Potter was engaged to her publisher Norman Warne. As a result, they insisted the engagement was a totally private affair, refusing that it went public. Unfortunately, Warne died of leukemia just a few weeks after the engagement. The farm became her haven, a place where she could come to paint and write in addition to learning farm management.
Therefore, many of her later books were cobbled together from earlier drawings in her enormous collection of sketchbooks. In the final decades of her life, Potter became a Lakeland farmer, winning awards for her prize Herdwick sheep which lived in her farm. Your email address will not be published.
Penguin Books: Peter Rabbit. The first edition of Peter Rabbit features 31 coloured illustrations by Potter. Thirty eight books sold, while 28 failed to sell.
Beatrix Potter. A few months later, Warne published The Tailor of Gloucester , which Potter had originally self-published in for reasons similar to her decision to self-publish The Tale of Peter Rabbit. By the end of the year Warne had given in, cementing a relationship that would save the publishing house from bankruptcy, and revolutionize the way children's books were marketed and sold. Take the pledge at howlifeunfolds.
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