The Tales of Beatrix Potter

Who can fail to love Beatrix Potter's wonderful drawings and tales? Her characters are so delicately coloured, so charmingly composed and each animal is so cleverly observed and realised. Her love for animals and landscape is obvious and it is clear how much work went into every story, every drawing. This edition has been specifically designed to reproduce the spirit of the originals. A particular type of open weave cloth with traditional starch filling, not the acrylic coating of modern cloth, was sought to give each of the 12 volumes the distinctive look and feel of books of the period. From the blind-blocked impression on the cover that holds the differently shaped labels, to the gilding on the top edge of each little book, the results are beautiful, and bring the stories to life. Every child will delight in the tales of Jemima Puddle-Duck, Cock Robin, Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle and Peter Rabbit – in fact it's hard to imagine childhood without the comforting presence of these and all her delightful characters.

The first 12 volumes

The Tale of Peter Rabbit
The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin
The Tailor of Gloucester
The tale of Benjamin Bunny
The Tale of Two Bad Mice
The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy Winkle
The Tale of the Pie and the Patty Pan
The Tale of Mr. Jeremy Fisher
The Story of Miss Moppet
The Tale of Jemima Puddle-duck
The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies
The Tale of Pigling Bland

Artist, author and conservationist, Beatrix Potter was a woman of prodigious and varied talents. Her love of landscape, and of the flora and fauna she had observed since childhood, came through in her beautifully detailed, evocative drawings. In her thirties, discouraged from pursuing a career in science, she published her first book The Tale of Peter Rabbit. Forty million copies of that book alone have been sold since 1902 – and its success led her to compose and illustrate a total of 23 'little books', 12 of which are now included in this exquisite collection.

Beatrix Potter’s exquisite watercolours were the result of hard work – she learned to paint so well because of her knowledge of anatomy and the natural sciences and from years of studying alone. Observing real animals to create her memorable characters, she preferred to draw from life where possible making dozens of studies and sketches to ensure every image was perfect: Mr Drake Puddleduck waddling along the road in Tom Kitten’s clothes; the little squirrels Goody and Timmy Tiptoes tying up their bag of nuts; Mr Tod and Tommy Brock grappling amongst the broken crockery. The images remain with us long after we have read the books.

The books in this Folio collection capture the spirit of the originals – from the blind-blocked impression on the cover that holds the specially shaped labels, to the gilding on the top edge of each book. The results in each distinctive volume are beautiful.