“Their love affair was all cloak and dagger stuff,” Glenn said. They were even more displeased to find that their daughter wanted to marry “into trade”. They were angry enough that Beatrix was pursuing a career as a writer because upper middle-class women were not meant to work. When Beatrix went to the office, she was always chaperoned and when she went to Bedford Square some other member of the family would always be there, too.”īeatrix’s parents tried to end the relationship by calling off a sketching trip to Surbiton. “It was the strangest of courtships,” said Norman’s niece, Winifred Warne, years later. Norman admired Beatrix’s independent personality. The partnership between Beatrix and Norman was to transform their lives forever. Norman, Frederick Warne’s youngest son, took on the project. The official version of The Tale of Peter Rabbit came out in 1902. It was such a success that she asked the publisher who had sent the politest rejection letter, Frederick Warne & Co, to reconsider. Six publishers rejected the manuscript, so Beatrix published it herself. It was Moore who suggested Beatrix turn it into a book. Five-year-old Noel, who was recovering from scarlet fever, received the first incarnation of The Tale of Peter Rabbit. In her late 20s, she wrote illustrated letters to the children of her former governess, Annie Moore. The family lived at 2 Bolton Gardens in Kensington, London.īeatrix had few friends, except for her pets. We think of Beatrix Potter as a strong, private woman, but these letters show her intense loneliness.”īeatrix Potter was born into an upper middle-class household on July 28 1866. “Reading Beatrix’s letters, I was surprised to find that her love for Norman never died. “It’s a really sad story,” said Warne archives curator Sara Glenn. They have discovered that behind her fiercely guarded public image was a deeply sensitive woman, who never got over her first love.īeatrix’s relationship with her editor, Norman Warne, was the focus of the Renee Zellweger weepie Miss Potter.īut in the film, Beatrix lives happily ever after with William Heelis, a solicitor. This year marks the 150th anniversary of Potter’s birth, and archivists have been trawling through her thousands of letters – many of them unpublished – for hidden details about her life. While many know the enchanting tale of Peter Rabbit, few know the tragic tale of his creator, English author Beatrix Potter.
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