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Auction: 16043 - Autographs, Historical Documents, Ephemera and Postal History
Lot: 95

Documents
Beatrix Potter
1935 The Peter Rabbit Music Books Book 1, Six Easy Pieces for Pianoforte, a copy of the first edition along with charming archive documenting this slim volume of music and the final stage of an extraordinary career. Beatrix Potter was 69 years old when she undertook this joint project, for which Le Fleming composed the music and she herself contributed illustrations and a brief foreword. The original manuscript of the latter, containing several autograph corrections, is preserved here, "The rippling melody of this pretty music calls back many little friends. Again the Puddle-Ducks pass: pit pat paddle pat; white kittens, squirrels, rabbits, frisk and gambol. Tiddly widdly widdly! Mrs. Tittlemouse with a mop follows the big dirty footprints of Mr. Jackson. And Lucie sips her tea, while dear Mrs. Tiggy heats her smoothing iron. Good luck to the merry company of Christopher Le Fleming’s tuneful numbers, and to those luckly little People who will learn to play them some day! ...".


Also included is an unpublished letter by Potter to the composer. Dated 1935 (18 August) it is written from her home, Castle Cottage. In this she complains of tremors in her hand, "I too have been away for a very brief holiday and more than ever busy since coming home – I sent 2 or 3 samples to Messrs Warne as I am not sure about size and style of drawing for lithography – I have not had a reply – it is just as likely that Mr. Stephens [Arthur L., Managing Director of Warne] is away from London. I shall go on in the mean time drawing when ever I can. I am quite keen on the work and do not reject it – but my hand does shake ...". With post script, " I had nice kittens from Elizabeth + her mother. You shall have the drawings to look at". Signed "H B Heelis".


Some weeks later, on 13 September, Potter wrote to Le Fleming: "I have been very long over [the drawings] – doing them at odd times in a busy season of the year. Some are better or worse than others. The frog and the nut-cracking squirrel are my own favorites, and Jemima with Mr. Tod... The ducks are least satisfactory – I am having another try at Pit Pat Puddle. The tune still hums" (Linder). Curiously, Potter thought the music beyond the ability of youngsters. She wrote to a friend, "I am sending you Christopher Le Fleming’s music. It was very charming when he played it but I think it is too difficult for children." Holograph Potter manuscripts are of exceptional rarity. Photo

Helen Beatrix Potter (1866 – 1943) was an English author, illustrator, natural scientist, and conservationist best known for her children's books featuring animals, such as those in The Tale of Peter Rabbit.

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Estimate
£3,000 to £4,000