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Various Properties Helen Beatrix Potter (1866-1943) Beatrix Potter was born in South Kensington, London, in 1866. Her Victorian childhood holidays were spent in Scotland and at Wray Castle, near Ambleside, in the Lake District, sketching fungi, fossils and animals. The countryside in this part of England played an influential part in her later works. Indeed, one can see Fawe Park featured in The Tale of Benjamin Bunny. Many of Potter's creations like Peter Rabbit began as characters in illustrated letters or as greetings cards. Potter wrote to Noel Moore on the 4th September, 1893, saying: "I don't know what to write to you, I will tell you a story about little rabbits whose names were Flopsy, Mopsy, Cottontail and Peter". First published privately in 1900, The Tale of Peter Rabbit was quickly taken up by Frederick Warne and Co., and made available to the public in 1902, selling over 50,000 copies in it's first year of distribution. Many works followed, including The Tale of Benjamin Bunny, each exploring the subtle interplay between text and image. Benjamin Bunny's cheeky attitude, boundless energy and mischievous scrapes, resonate with meaning and memory across generations of readers and fixes him as one of the most illustrated icons of the Twentieth Century.

Helen Beatrix Potter (1866-1943)

Benjamin Bunny

Details

Helen Beatrix Potter (1866-1943)
Benjamin Bunny
signed with initials 'H.P.P. (lower right)
grey ink and watercolour, vignette
4¼ x 3 in. (10.8 x 7 cm.)
See back cover illustration

Provenance

From the artist's estate and thence by descent until;
Anonymous sale; Christie's, London, 8 December 1995, where purchased by the present owner.

Exhibited

London, Victoria and Albert Museum, Beatrix Potter Exhibition, 1998.

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis This lot is subject to Collection and Storage charges

Lot Essay

This fine watercolour was executed in the 1890s when the artist worked for the greeting card firm Hildesheimer.

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