BEATRIX POTTER
The Beatrix Potter Collections
The Collections
Leslie Linder (click image for larger version)
The Legacy of Leslie Linder
Scholarly knowledge about Beatrix Potter has at its core the work of Leslie Linder (1904-1973), an engineer who was a collector of Potter drawings. It was Linder who, 15 years after Potter's death, succeeded in breaking and then converting the secret, miniaturised code she had used to note thoughts and observations in her diary (this journal, covering the years 1881 to 1897, was published in 1966). Linder's major collection of Beatrix Potter material was bequeathed to the V&A after his death in 1973, laying the foundation for further acquisitions.
Access to the Collections
The Beatrix Potter Collections are based at Blythe House Archive & Library Reading Room, near Olympia, and are open to all with an interest in Beatrix Potter and her work. For information on how to get to Blythe House and the conditions that apply to gaining access to material, visit the Archives page or ring +44 (0)20 7602 0281 ext. 212.
Elements in the Beatrix Potter Collections
The Linder Bequest
The original bequest includes correspondence, drawings, watercolours, photographs, literary manuscripts and other memorabilia; natural history and landscape drawings are particular strengths. The correspondence relates to Potter's farming interests, as well as to the publication of her books.
The Collection also contains a huge number of photographs taken by Rupert Potter (Beatrix's father) who was a very competent prolific photographer in his own right as well as a group of letters written to him by Liberal politician and prime minister WE Gladstone.
Leslie Linder (click image for larger version)
The Linder Archive
Linder's sister, Enid, bequeathed her brother's letters and working papers to the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1980. Many of these papers relate to the publication of Linder's seminal works on Beatrix Potter, including The Art of Beatrix Potter (published 1955), The Journal of Beatrix Potter from 1881 to 1897 (published 1966) and A History of the Writings of Beatrix Potter (published 1971). The archive also contains information relating to the provenance of objects in the V&A's Beatrix Potter Collections.
The Linder Collection
This selection of 280 drawings and 40 first editions of books was transferred by Leslie Linder to the National Book League (now The Book Trust) in 1970, to make Beatrix Potter's work more available to the public. Although it is the property of the Linder Trust, the Linder Collection has since 1989 been housed with the other elements of the Beatrix Potter Collections.
The Warne Archive
Since November 2006 the V&A has held on loan the Beatrix Potter archives of Frederick Warne & Co., the publishers of the Peter Rabbit books since 1902. The collection includes the original illustrations for The Tale of Peter Rabbit, dummy manuscripts, editions of the Tales from the earliest printings to the present day and correspondence between Beatrix Potter and her publisher.
Please visit www.peterrabbit.com
Additional Potter Material
The single most important item in this collection is the celebrated 'Peter Rabbit Picture Letter', the letter sent to Noel Moore in 1893 that told the story of Peter Rabbit for the first time; this item is on long loan to the V&A by its owner, Pearson PLC. In addition, the Beatrix Potter Society has deposited a number of items on loan at the V&A, including the 'Holiday Diary' written by Potter in 1905.