The Tale of Peter Rabbit may be the best known children's story of all time. You can't beat it: Peter gets to be mischievous, he gets to be the center of attention, he takes his punishment, and he gets to be loved and nurtured. All in absolutely exquisite water-colors in a little book that children can hold in their hands. And that's just the first story of its kind. There's also The Tale of Benjamin Bunny. And The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck, The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin, The Tailor of Gloucester, The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle, The Tale of Mr. Jeremy Fisher and at least a dozen more.

But for adults, The Tale of Beatrix Potter is equally fascinating -- and, ultimately, satisfying. A little girl is lonely, overprotected by her parents, shy and probably not very happy. Then, as a young woman, she writes a story for the child of one of her governesses, a story about a mischievous little bunny who gets into Mr. MacGregor's garden and gets himself in trouble. The story is accepted for publication, but turned over to the youngest, least experienced brother in the publishing firm's family. They fall in love -- the shy young author and the handsome young publisher. The parents don't approve (she's marrying beneath herself), but the lovers stand firm. That should be the end of the story: they live happily ever after. Except in the real world, stories don't always turn out as they should. The lover dies before they are married, and the young woman is once again left alone, lonely. Her art work is exquisite, her stories are simple but delightful, and so she continues producing books for little children, books that they love. But the artist/author is still lonely and probably not very happy. Then, approaching middle age, she decides to buy herself a place in the country, a sheep farm in the Lake District that she has grown to love. A country solicitor becomes her representative in making the purchase. He shows her the country. He is a country gentleman himself, quiet and unassuming, but the epitome of courtesy and gentility. So, yes, they marry and they do indeed live happily thereafter. She's a quiet, hard-working, sensible country business woman; respectful of her husband and involved in local activities; he's her partner and companion. She doesn't miss the fame and honor that she enjoyed as artist and writer. Children all over the world read her stories, but she simply disappears in the distance. That's the tale of Beatrix Potter.

Margaret Lane wrote this biography, called The Tale of Beatrix Potter (Frederick Warne & Co., 1946). Her words and a few black and-white photographs trace the growth of the slender, lonely, solemn young girl of Bolton Gardens in London into the smiling, matronly Mrs. Heelis of Sawry. She (and the photographs) tell of her subjection to selfish, domineering parents, her love for the handsome young Norman Warne, and then her attention to her sheep, her pet dogs and cats, and shy young children as a smiling, portly countrywoman. And a few color plates show the marvelous detail of her illustrations for the books that captured children's imagination -- and still do. Her Tale even includes a full-sized facsimile of the original Peter Rabbit story, sent as a quiet remembrance to her former governess's child.

But Margaret Lane was so fascinated with her Beatrix Potter/Heelis character that not only did she revise her Tale (Frederick Warne & Co, 1985) including new information that had just come to her attention, but also she indulged herself in a more leisurely account of the three transformations that her heroine undergoes: from withdrawn daughter of wealth to a young naturalist with pen and paint, then to an imaginative genius telling stories for young children, and finally to a happily married farm woman. She does so, as she says in her introduction, "in the mood of someone pasting up a scrapbook." And that's exactly what The Magic Years of Beatrix Potter (Frederick Warne & Co, 1978) is -- a scrapbook of the happy achievements in all the phases of her life, especially the second and third. There are a plenitude of photographs, pen-and-ink drawings, water-color sketches, as well as illustrations for her books. Many of the items are drawn from "the muddled mass of unpublished drawings and paintings that [Lane] had first sifted through so long ago at Sawrey," researching that first book, soon after Mrs. Heelis's death. For instance, you will find in this scrapbook, sketches done when Beatrix was nine or ten years old, microscopic studies of a tick and a crab spider done by the young naturalist, a detailed portrait of her pet rabbit Peter, drawings and paintings in impressionistic watercolors of landscapes from Wordsworth and Coleridge's Lake District, and of course originals of the characters, scenes, and still lifes used in the children's books. Likewise there are delightful quotations from her letters and journals, revealing the lively and spontaneous wit behind the creative genius:

While she was still producing roughly two books a year at her publisher's demand, before her final settling in, "She was snatching every opportunity of spending days or weeks at Sawrey by herself, describing herself as 'a sort of self-contained independent female farmer,' taking part in village affairs, judging trussed poultry at agricultural shows and standing for election to local committees. ' have been much driven with canvassing and squabbles,' she wrote Harold Warne, 'and collecting proxies to squash my opponent.' But even more important was 'the question of buying a pedigreed bull calf and the exasperatingly wet weather -- the lower fields are strewn with the potatoes of my next-door neighbor, a very casual farmer; he must have had tons washed out . . . The hay has got soaked again.'"

The early chapter titles indicate the steady growth of the artist: "The Third-Floor Nursery," "The Young Naturalist," "The Secret Apprenticeship" (as a commercial artist), "Children as Audience" (starting with Noel, her former governess's little son), and soon "Sawrey Discovered." The epilogue, called significantly "The Ghost of Beatrix Potter" refers in part to her years as Mrs. Heelis (many readers thought she was deceased long before her death in 1943) and in part to Ms. Lane's patient but firm determination to secure Mr. Heelis's reluctant cooperation in doing the research for what eventually became The Tale of Beatrix Potter. When she had first had the publishers forward a letter to Mrs. Heelis asking for an interview for an essay she hoped to write, she had received this indignant reply: "My books have always sold without advertisement, and I do not propose to go in for that sort of thing now." At first, after her death, Mr. Heelis staunchly protected his late wife's privacy.

Though there are a couple of photographs from her old age, the last of the Potter art work in the scrapbook dates from thirty years before her death. For the final twenty-seven years of her life, she was simply Mrs. Heelis. And happy.

But the scrapbook records the creative genius of the early years and the discovery of her magic when she addresses her stories to young children, like Noël.

Book Description: (Frederick Warne, 1978, reprint 1979). Richly illustrated. HB. Very Good in Very Good dust wrapper. 216pp. Original blue cloth covers w/ gilt title on spine. Very bright and clean.