Unusual Facts About Beatrix Potter, The Creator Of Peter Rabbit

In 1997, UK tabloids blew up after the Times Of London examined one of Potter's diaries and discovered she boiled and then dissected a squirrel out of scientific curiosity — and probably committed other animal murders in her scientific quest. She reportedly asked a gamekeeper to shoot the creature for her, which she used as inspiration for the character Squirrel Nutkin, and it was also believed that one of her characters, Jeremy Fisher, was inspired by a frog that she dissected. The Times also noted that she killed a rabbit using chloroform, and subsequently, the beloved children's author and heretofore believed naturalist was decried as an animal killer and bunny boiler. 

Tabloids had a field day with this information, but ultimately the timeless charm of her books and Potter's well-documented love for all things living and natural saved her reputation.

Potter, whose father was a London attorney, was a self-educated biologist and mycologist who developed her drawing skills while studying fungi, animals, and plants. Although it was a fad of the Victorian times for women to make sketches of nature and biology, Potter was reportedly more dedicated to the details and science behind her art than the average person. She also made a veritable scientific discovery and wrote about it in a paper titled, "On the Germination of the Spores of Agaricineae." She submitted the groundbreaking mycological research to London's males-only Linnean Society in 1897, when she was 20, but they rejected it. 

While in her 20s, Potter continued to make hundreds of accurate illustrations based on her observations of fungi. Her uncle submitted a collection of her drawings in book form to the Royal Botanical Gardens, but they, too, didn't take it seriously.

Beatrix Potter finally self-published Peter Rabbit when she was 36 years old, after it had been rejected from six different publishers. She printed 250 copies which became so massively popular that a publisher took notice and made her an offer.

She became very close to her editor at that publishing firm, Norman Warne, and they got engaged in July 1905. Potter's parents were not happy about his social position and his trade, but she accepted his proposal nonetheless. About a month later, Warne suddenly died from a blood disorder that was most likely leukemia while his fiance was away visiting family members in Wales. Potter was reportedly devastated and remained single for several years before marrying lawyer William Heelis in 1913.

Potter drew inspiration for her story about Peter Rabbit from a Belgian rabbit she owned named Peter Piper. She wrote that she bought him for a fair price when the rabbit was merely a baby bunny, and called him her "affectionate companion." His first name, used in the illustrated books, later made her famous. She inscribed in one of her private first editions of The Tale Of Peter Rabbit:

In affectionate remembrance of poor old Peter Rabbit, who died on the 26th of January 1901 at the end of his 9th year... whatever the limitations of his intellect or outward shortcomings of his fur, and his ears and toes, his disposition was uniformly amiable and his temper unfailingly sweet. An affectionate companion and a quiet friend.

But Peter Piper wasn't the first rabbit she owned. That one was named Benjamin Bouncer, who you may know from The Tale of Benjamin Bunny.

In 1893, Potter wrote a letter to a five-year-old boy named Noel Moore, who was one the son of her governess friend Annie Moore. The boy had scarlet fever, and Potter was attempting to cheer him up during his recovery. She accompanied the letter with pictures and watercolors she'd sketched. She wrote, "I don't know what to write to you, so I shall tell you story about four little rabbits, whose names were Flopsy, Mopsy, Cottontail, and Peter."

The boy's mother, Potter's friend, was so impressed she pressured Potter to turn the letters into a book. In 1900, Potter followed Annie's advice and borrowed back her original letter to Noel to use as a model for her first book, The Tale of Peter Rabbit.

Potter chose to make her books small so a child's tiny hands could easily hold on to them and advocated for including black-and-white illustrations on every page to retain children's interest. Six publishers turned her down, preferring a larger, costlier format with color illustrations. After the multiple rejections Potter decided to publish the books herself in black and white because she wanted her stories to be affordable. Her printing sold out and became so popular that one of the publishers who had previously rejected her decided to give her books another go, this time on Potter's terms. Frederick Warne & Co began publishing her books in 1902 — the same Warne who later became Potter's fiance.