The Tale of Peter Rabbit

I must admit to being quite fascinated both by Beatrix Potter's consummate skill as a watercolour artist and her skill at story telling. Here, the Tale of Peter Rabbit is printed as a large format (A4) version....not the little book format that she insisted on for her young readers. And, it must be admitted, was such a success. I don't know if the original illustrations were done this size..... Hmm, did a bit of research and found one held in the British Museum and from the size of the hands holding the picture I estimate that the original illustrations were either drawn at actual size for printing in the small format books or were about 30% larger and were reduced for publication (which would improve the apparent detail). It's significant that when she was approached by Walt Disney in 1930 for the rights to an animated version, she refused on the grounds that her pictures would have to be enlarged for the animation and this would emphasise all their flaws. And certainly, the original tale that she drew of Peter Rabbit, in a letter to Noel Moore. had very small drawings . I've also seen a preliminary drawing of Mr McGregor that was on paper 16.5 x 11.2 cm ...which leads me to think that the original drawings were the actual size that they were printed. Why does all this matter? well the book under review here has large illustrations. This is great if one is studying her technique, colouration etc. but it does enhance any flaws. Frankly, I don't think it matters because the drawings still look lovely. And the story of Peter Rabbit is virtually poetry. I love the cadence when it's read aloud. And the hint of menace in most of her stories makes them all the more fascinating and slightly terrifying. ..."Your father had an accident there......pause........He was put in a pie by Mrs McGregor."
This book was published as a special edition to commemorate 100 years since the initial publication by Warnes. Maybe it underwrote their business for the 100 years. because it's still being published in multiple languages...and is enormously popular in Japan , for example. (Though Warne's didn't copyright in the USA and lost all rights and royalties there....bad oversight. But interesting that the USA is now complaining about the same thing being done to them by China with intellectual property).
I'm a fan and this is a lovely book. As Warne's point out, with modern publishing technology, they were actually able to clean up the original drawings, maybe improve the colour slightly ...and it's a very worthwhile publication to have.....(even if it is not as Beatrix herself wanted it: as a tiny book for tiny hands). Actually I find the tiny books a pain to shelve....they are just a non standard size.
Anyway, five stars from me. A lovely publication and a stunningly successful illustrated story. ( )

A charming classic with a moral sweetly tucked away inside a beautifully illustrated and adventurous tale. ( )

This is the classic tale of a young rabbit who, rather than behave like the rest of his siblings, gets into adventurous trouble at the local farm.

Probably part of the reason I've never reviewed this title before is that everything to be said about it has already been said by far more eloquent people than me.

Still, after recently re-reading it with my niece, I felt I should finally acknowledge it with a review here.

The story is simple but perfectly paced for young readers. Mischievous Peter gets a bit of a comeuppance but not so much that children will take away the message that making mistakes is unforgivable.

Potter's illustrations are lovely, with gentle pastels capturing the beauty of nature. ( )

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