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Beatrix Potter

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:2,000.00 - 3,000.00 USD
Beatrix Potter

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Auction Date:2012 Apr 18 @ 18:00 (UTC-5 : EST/CDT)
Location:5 Rt 101A Suite 5, Amherst, New Hampshire, 03031, United States
ALS - Autograph Letter Signed
ANS - Autograph Note Signed
AQS - Autograph Quotation Signed
AMQS - Autograph Musical Quotation Signed
DS - Document Signed
FDC - First Day Cover
Inscribed - “Personalized”
ISP - Inscribed Signed Photograph
LS - Letter Signed
SP - Signed Photograph
TLS - Typed Letter Signed
British author and illustrator (1866–1943) whose Edwardian-era tales of naughty rabbits, ‘bad’ mice, and other amusingly mischievous animals take a place among the most enduring and beloved works in the annals of children’s literature. Her first and best-known book, The Tale of Peter Rabbit, has sold more than 40 million copies since it was first published in 1902. ALS signed with her married name, “Beatrix Heelis,” two pages both sides, 4.25 x 7, December 15, 1935. Lengthy letter to Mrs. Mahoney Mills. In part: “I am a bad correspondent;…a long letter; then silence! Although it might not so appear I was most interested in the Whitney Catalogue, which lies before me. It is beautiful furniture and looks as though it was splendidly made. I am interested in the stuffed furniture…The fills on some of the armchairs are amusing; why not?! I’ve seen enough human female legs, it’s a refreshing change to meet with flowers on a chair…I have been embroidering a valance for an old 4 post bed. I use some old green…and worked on it with old gold colored silks. I got wall paper for the room from Morris & Co. The firm still prints William Morris’s hand block printed wall paper designs. They are not suitable as a background for pictures in watercolors or prints being a decoration in themselves but for a background to my 4 poster nothing could be better; except tapestry…The summer very fine, the autumn very wet, and now snow. The sheep and the cattle are down hill for the winter. It seems strange there are so few sheep in the U.S.A. but its hardly worth while starting sheep farming till people commence to wear clothes— and fills? The news abroad is very disquieting. That wretched League. When it has dragged England into foreign wars—USA and the colonies will have to rescue what is left of us.” Potter has underlined several passages throughout the letter. In fine condition, with a small spot of staining to each top right corner tip, and a bit of scattered light soiling.

Potter married William Heelis in 1913 at the age of 47, and lived at Castle Cottage in the tiny village of Near Sawrey in the English Lakes District, where, delighting in country life, she found inspiration for her books. In this letter she fulminates against the League of Nations, alluding the worsening political situation in Europe. She also describes her beloved farm—she was a prize-winning breeder of Herdwick sheep and a prosperous farmer, buying up neighboring farms to conserve the countryside. On her death in 1943, Potter would leave 4,000 acres, multiple cottages and farms, and herds of sheep and cattle to the National Trust, preserving the character of the land she loved. A lively letter from the cherished children’s author.