Details
[POTTER, BEATRIX]. A Victorian scrap album belonging to Beatrix Potter, containing 84 mounted cards (Christmas, New Year, and Valentine cards), including 11 KATE GREENAWAY CARDS (4 of which are from her rare "Little Red Riding Hood" series), some 3-dimensional, others with moving parts etc. 1870s. Folio, 354 x 255 mm. (14 x 10 in.), contemporary half green morocco, worn, spine defective (backstrip detached); upper hinge cracked, some cards removed or cut out from mounts. INSCRIBED BY BEATRIX POTTER (in a mature hand) in ink on the front free endpaper: "H.B. Potter From Mama Valentine's Day - 1872." Additionally, she has also identified the sender, the occasion, and the date they were given below many cards (in pencil, and presumably at a later date).
A WONDERFUL COLLECTION OF CARDS GIVEN TO THE YOUNG BEATRIX FROM VARIOUS FAMILY MEMBERS AND CLOSE FRIENDS. The cards are identified as being given from December, 1871 (when Beatrix was five years old) through 1878. Included among the many family members' cards: her mother and father, one from her brother Bertram, members of the Leech, Potter and Crompton families and quite a few from Mackenzie, Beatrix's nanny. There are also cards from Mr. Gaskell and other notable close friends.
A WONDERFUL COLLECTION OF CARDS GIVEN TO THE YOUNG BEATRIX FROM VARIOUS FAMILY MEMBERS AND CLOSE FRIENDS. The cards are identified as being given from December, 1871 (when Beatrix was five years old) through 1878. Included among the many family members' cards: her mother and father, one from her brother Bertram, members of the Leech, Potter and Crompton families and quite a few from Mackenzie, Beatrix's nanny. There are also cards from Mr. Gaskell and other notable close friends.
Provenance
Beatrix Potter, a gift from her mother on Valentine's Day, 1872, with Beatrix's later inscription on the front free endpaper: "H.B. Potter From Mama Valentine's Day - 1872"; another inscription (in pencil) below in an unidentified hand reads: "Beatrix Potter's album Authenticated by Dr. Mary Noble. This album was sold with other effects after her death." It was part of a collection of one Rev. Fisher which was sold at Phillips, Edinburgh in 1978; it was later sold at auction, Sotheby's London, 1986 (incorrectly catalogued as having a presentation inscription by Beatrix's mother).