Today is the birthday of renowned children’s author Beatrix Potter…
Helen Beatrix Potter (28 July 1866 – 22 December 1943) was an English author, illustrator, natural scientist, and conservationist best known for her imaginative children’s books featuring animals such as those in The Tale of Peter Rabbit, which celebrated the British landscape and country life.
Potter was born into a wealthy Unitarian family. She and her younger brother Walter Bertram (1872–1918) grew up with few friends outside their large extended family. Her parents were artistic, interested in nature, and enjoyed the countryside. As children, Beatrix and Bertram had numerous small animals as pets which they observed closely and drew endlessly. Summer holidays were spent away from London, in Scotland and in the English Lake District where Beatrix developed a love of the natural world which was the subject of her painting from an early age.
She was educated by private governesses until she was 18. Her study of languages, literature, science, and history was broad and she was an eager student. Her artistic talents were recognized early. She enjoyed private art lessons and developed her own style, favouring watercolour. She illustrated insects, fossils, archaeological artifacts, and fungi, along with her drawings of her animals, real and imagined. (via Wikipedia)
In honor of the occasion we offer 10 of her fully illustrated books that can be read in full here, or downloaded as FREE PDF ebooks via Google Books.
(NOTE: Many of these are available as Kindle ebooks through Amazon, but the free Kindle editions do not include Potter’s illustrations.)
1) The Tale of Peter Rabbit
FREE PDF ebook edition!
via Google Books