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Item Barcode | Collection | Call Number | Status | Item Holds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 33607001977332 | Adult Nonfiction | 928 POTTER | Searching... Unknown | Searching... Unavailable |
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Summary
Summary
Peter Rabbit, Mr. McGregor, and many other Beatrix Potter characters remain in the hearts of millions. However, though Potter is a household name around the world, few know the woman behind the illustrations. Her personal life, including a romantic relationship with her publisher, Norman Warne, and her significant achievements outside of children's literature remain largely unknown. In Linda Lear's enchanting new biography, we get the life story of this incredible, funny, and independent woman. As one of the first female naturalists in the world, Potter brought the beauty and importance of nature back into the imagination at a time when plunder was more popular than preservation. Through her art she sought to encourage conservation and change the world. With never before seen illustrations and intimate detail, Lear goes beyond our perrenial fascination with Potter as a writer and illustrator of children's books, and delves deeply into the life of a most unusual and gifted woman--one whose art was timeless, and whose generosity left an indelible imprint on the countryside.
Author Notes
LINDA LEAR, a professor of environmental history and author of the prize-winning biography Rachel Carson: Witness for Nature , is an enthusiastic horticulturalist and collector of botanical art. She lives in Bethesda, Maryland.
Reviews (2)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Beatrix Potter (1866-1943), creator of the immortal Peter Rabbit, is known as an avid writer of comical illustrated letters to friends and as an assertive marketer of her illustrations, and this lively volume also captures her energetic participation in Victorian-era natural history research and conservation. Environmental historian Lear (Rachel Carson: Witness for Nature) relates that, as a child in an upper-middle-class family, Potter sketched flowers, dead animals and live lizards, insects and rodents that she brought home. "Rabbits were caught, tamed, sketched, painted" by young Beatrix and her brother, Bertram. In 1893, while traveling with her pet rabbit, Peter Piper, and seeking unusual fungi with self-taught mycologist Charles McIntosh, Potter jotted an illustrated note "about a disobedient young rabbit called `Peter' " to an ailing child friend and sketched Peter's nemesis, a McIntosh-look-alike farmer called Mr. McGregor, creating "two fictional characters that one day would be world-famous." Lear judges Potter "a brilliant amateur" naturalist who expressed strong convictions about land preservation. Potter's witty journals, with their close observations of people, animals, objects and places, serve as the basis for Lear's engrossing account, which will appeal to ecologists, historians, child lit buffs and those who want to know the real Squirrel Nutkin, Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle and Benjamin Bunny. A movie, Miss Potter, also releases in January. 16 pages of color illus., 8 pages of b&w illus. not seen by PW. (Jan.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Library Journal Review
Beatrix Potter (1866-1943), author/illustrator of more than 20 "little books" for children, is known for her collection of Peter Rabbit tales. In this remarkable biography, Lear (Rachel Carson: Witness for Nature) provides "an exploration of the life and times of a woman who is a household name on several continents, but whose personal life and significant scientific and environmental accomplishments remain largely unknown." Drawing on Potter's journal, letters, and many other primary and secondary sources, Lear contends that Potter brought nature back into the English imagination with her books and illustrations. Readers learn about Potter's difficult parents, the prescribed Victorian code of conduct in which she grew up, her relationship with her publisher, her reaction to the death of her first fianc?, and her role as a major benefactor of the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest and Natural Beauty. The detailed analysis of Potter's works enables Lear to comment on Potter's artistry in storytelling and illustrating. The author's meticulous attention to detail is obvious throughout, not to mention her elegant writing and exceptional scholarship. Highly recommended for academic, special, and public libraries.-Kathryn R. Bartelt, Univ. of Evansville Libs., IN (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Excerpts
Excerpts
Beatrix Potter: A Life in Nature Beatrix Potter's Lakeland 1892-1943 BEATRIX POTTER. Copyright (c) 2007 by Linda Lear. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. Excerpted from Beatrix Potter: A Life in Nature by Linda Lear All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
Table of Contents
| Acknowledgements | p. ix |
| List of Illustrations | p. xv |
| Map | p. xviii |
| Prologue: Ownership | p. 3 |
| 1 Roots | p. 9 |
| 2 Exposures | p. 25 |
| 3 Transitions | p. 49 |
| 4 Experiments | p. 76 |
| 5 Discoveries | p. 104 |
| 6 Fantasies | p. 130 |
| 7 Ideas | p. 156 |
| 8 Realities | p. 170 |
| 9 Losses | p. 193 |
| 10 Stories | p. 207 |
| 11 Diversions | p. 227 |
| 12 Satisfactions | p. 249 |
| 13 Partnerships | p. 263 |
| 14 Salvages | p. 284 |
| 15 Opportunities | p. 298 |
| 16 Legacies | p. 318 |
| 17 Americans | p. 337 |
| 18 Ventures | p. 357 |
| 19 Passages | p. 381 |
| 20 Challenges | p. 405 |
| 21 Reflections | p. 427 |
| Epilogue: Stewardship | p. 441 |
| Notes | p. 448 |
| Select Bibliography | p. 541 |
| Index | p. 555 |