Dear Beatrix Potter Lover, The Beatrix Potter Society

Snowdrops in
Sawrey
Dear Beatrix Potter Lover,
The days are getting longer and summer travel plans are
being made. The dates for the Society's Autumn and Winter
Gatherings are listed in the side bar, and details on the Spring
Meeting appear below, in case you find yourself nearby and
able to attend.
For those Members who have yet to renew their Society
memberships, this is the last chance to do so in order not to
miss the April Journal and Newsletter which will be on its way,
loaded with goodies, in two weeks' time.
Whetting the appetite for a stop in Sawrey, or fuel for the
imaginations of armchair travellers, Phillip Price sends this
report from London, which he compiled using conversations
with Caroline Windsor, an administrator at Hill Top, and Mandy
The Beatrix Potter
Society
Want to learn more about
Beatrix Potter?
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who are passionate about
Beatrix Potter, her life and
works, you receive the
quarterly Journal and
Newsletter, full of interesting
Marshall, at Castle Cottage (who also provided the above
photo):
"Springtime in Sawrey
Sawrey is slowly emerging from what has been a fickle
winter, much colder than last year with snow, frost, rain, wind,
and the odd bright day.
Hill Top opened for the season on February 14 and the first
visitors on entering the house were greeted with Rosemary
Ackersley's arrangement of primulas and primroses from her
greenhouse in Hawkshead, and pussy willow from her garden.
Outside, Peter Tasker, the gardener, has been digging over
the borders and exposing, to the delight of the local robin
population, several meals of plump earthworms.
Snowdrops, the heralds of Spring, are in bloom, crocus,
winter aconites, and an early Viburnum. No daffodils as yet, but
they are in bud.
Further afield lambing has begun, while at Castle Cottage, in
addition to snowdrops, an early rhododendron against a west
facing wall is beginning to show signs of life.
Happy Easter!"
articles about Miss Potter and
the Society's efforts and
events.
Go here to learn more about
the Society and to find the
Membership form for
download.
Save the Date:
Beatrix Potter Society
Autumn Meeting
September 12, 2015
Sloane Club, London
Winter Gathering
December 5, 2015
Sloane Club, London
Recently:
Quick Links
Congratulations to BPS Member, Barbara Gibson, who won
second prize in the Cape Cod Creative Arts Center Members'
Show for her watercolor, "Beatrix's Garden". The show runs
until April 1, so drop by and have a look if you are in Chatham,
MA.
The painting is of the garden at Castle Cottage - one of a
number Barb did last summer in Sawrey.
Read the previous issue of
"Pottering About" here.
Email us at:
[email protected]
Website
Visit the Society's web page:
The Beatrix Potter Society
Stay Connected
Pottering About Editors:
Janet Sullivan
Carolyn Schaeffer
Barb Gibson and the winning painting.
The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art announced the
2015 winners of its annual awards. Of interest to us is the
winner of the Angel Award in recognition of generous
resources, crucial to making picture book art exhibitions,
education programs, and related projects a reality. An excerpt
from the news release:
"Angel Award - to The Cotsen Children's Library at Princeton
University. Represented by Corinna Cotsen and Andrea Immel.
International research collection and public resource of
illustrated children's books, manuscripts, original artwork,
prints, and educational toys dating back to the 15th century;
gift of Lloyd E Cotsen." [Included in the collection are many
Beatrix Potter items.]
Congratulations!
Corinna Cotsen and Andrea Immel, Curator.
Last month, Betsy Bray presented her talk, "Beatrix Potter: A
Woman Ahead of her Time", for the Live Oak Public Libraries in
Savannah, GA at their Library Foundation fundraising lunch.
There were seventy in attendance! Here she is, on the left, with
Christy Divine, Library Foundation Manager, and Christian
Kruse, Library Director.
Coming Up:
March 7 - 22, 2015, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily
Olbrich Botanical Gardens Spring Flower Show, Madison, WI
Theme: Beatrix Potter's The Tale of Peter Rabbit
Thanks to Carol Saldeen for this one!
----------------------------------------March 13 - April 5, 2015
Dallas Children's Theater's Rosewood Center for Family Arts
The Tale of Peter Rabbit
The Dallas Morning News reports on a puppet production of
The Tale of Peter Rabbit - all puppets, save for Mr McGregor,
who is portrayed by a human. Looks entertaining! The rest of
the article can be found here. For tickets, use the theater link
above.
Dallas Morning News
Photo: Craig Lynch.
-------------------------------March 20 - June 14, 2015
Inspiration by Design: Word and Image from the Victoria and
Albert Museum
Exhibition at the State Library of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia
Beatrix Potter works, including drawings from The Tale of Peter
Rabbit, will appear in the exhibition. A short article can be
found here.
Thank you to all who sent links for this - there is obviously
much excitement over it! Watch for a review in the July Journal
and Newsletter.
-------------------------------Marta McDowell will be giving her talk on Beatrix Potter and
her gardens:
April 21, 2015, 7 p.m.
Hunterdon County Library, Flemington, NJ
and
May 3, 2015, 1 p.m.
Endless Mountains Nature Center, Tunkhannock, PA
------------------------------BPS Spring Meeting:
May 16 and 17, 2015
Sawrey, Cumbria, UK
There are still spaces available, and enough time to book
before the deadline (April 17 for those wanting dinner on
Saturday night, May 7 otherwise). Event begins with lunch on
Saturday, followed by two afternoon talks, and tea. There is an
optional "after-hours" visit to Hill Top and dinner at the Sawrey
House Hotel. Sunday will have a visit to Hill Top farm.
The booking form for the Spring Meeting can be found here.
----------------------------------June 27, 2015
Oak Glen Schoolhouse,Oak Glen, CA
A "Peter Rabbit Country Tea" is being planned for Saturday,
June 27, at the historic Oak Glen Schoolhouse, to celebrate the
Society's 35th Anniversary. Tours of the schoolhouse, a visit to
the Arts & Crafts "River House", a Reading Beatrix Potter event,
a tea and talk will take place. A bring-and-buy table also will be
set up. For more information please contact Dale Schafer at
(909) 861-9046 or at [email protected].
If you plan to attend please let Dale know by May 15.
In the News:
Thanks to all who sent links with news concerning the
impending sale of eight pieces of land in the Lake District by
the Lake District National Park Authority. Beatrix will be
turning in her grave. Bidding is now closed, so we have chosen
this one, the most up-to-date link (sent by both Libby Joy and
David Pepper - thank you!), which provides a good summary of
the situation.
Suzanne Terry and David Pepper have both sent a link to an
article in the Wall Street Journal, "Welcome to Ginger and
Pickles University", suggesting the lessons learned over credit
in The Tale of Ginger and Pickles should be applied to the
current situation in the United States with rising numbers of
student-loan defaults. The author, Joshua Hochschild, asks:
"How did we get here and what can we expect to come? Let's
ask Beatrix Potter. If you seek a lesson in credit bubbles, you
need look no further than The Tale of Ginger and Pickles,
published in 1909".
The link to the full article is also here, though only subscribers
will be able to read it.
For those who are not subscribers, an alternative may be this
article, "An Economics Lesson by Beatrix Potter", on a blog by
Timothy Power. He also takes delight in discovering that
children's literature exists that isn't completely sanitized and
allows the darker side of nature to show through.
More on Herdwick Sheep:
Photo: Ian Lawson
Glyn Gregory sent this link to some stunning photographs of
Herdwick sheep, by Ian Lawson. Those receiving the Journal
and Newsletter may remember the review of Ian Lawson's book
in J&N 133. An exhibition of the photographs runs until April 19
at the Rheged Centre near Penrith in Cumbria.
On the same topic, Libby Joy found this short promotional
video for the exhibit with more spectacular views of Herdwicks
in the Lakes.
HERDWICK - A LAKE DISTRICT ICON
Comparing Beatrix Potter and Gene StrattonPorter:
BPS Member Rowena Godfrey (Yorkshire, UK) has written an
article for the Limberlost State Historic Site (Geneva, IN),
comparing Beatrix Potter and Gene Stratton-Porter, an
American author, photographer and conservationist. There are
many parallels between the two women. Find the article,
"Beatrix Potter and Gene Stratton-Porter" in the Friends of the
Limberlost Newsletter. You may have to scroll down a few
pages.
Question From a Reader:
Dudley Chignall (Essex, UK) writes regarding The Tailor of
Gloucester:
"I would like to enlist the aid of your readers. Whilst it is
generally recognised that the frontispiece to the book [The
Tailor of Gloucester] owes much to a print by Hogarth, I have
not been able to establish the name of the print from which
Beatrix conjours up the image of the Tailor's shop. In June 1943,
Beatrix wrote, 'The Tailor's shop was copied from a print of
houses in old London city.' I do hope that readers can put
another piece in the jig-saw."
If anyone knows the
title, or any other
information about the
print in question, please
email us at
potteringabout1@gmail
.com.
A Dedicated
Presenter:
Deborah Schakel has
been giving her Beatrix
Potter presentation for
over twenty-five years,
and recently presented
to the Women's Literary
Club of Holland, MI, for a crowd of 150. She reports:
"I brought my large collection of Potter books and
memorabilia, and some women brought their Peter Rabbits
and other characters. Playing the role of Beatrix Potter, I
explained how Peter Rabbit was written and recited the story
from memory. I went on to fill in Potter's life story with a slide
presentation and some in the audience admitted they had not
known of Potter's life work, especially the Lakeland farming
years. At the end, one woman complimented me and
remarked, 'It's been a long time since anyone has told me a
story'."
The photo above is from the
early period of Deborah's
"career", the one to the left is
more recent.
Be An Armchair Explorer:
To follow up on Marta McDowell's challenge - how many sites
that related to Beatrix could we find on the 1913 map - here's
what we have so far:
- Cockshott Point is the piece of land that Miss Potter helped to
save by painting illustrations and sending them to her friend
from the Horn Book/Children's Bookshop in Boston for sale
to Americans.
- The ferry, which Beatrix Potter took to, among other
things, shop at the Mawson Brothers' Nursery for plants.
- Lindeth Howe, the house that the Potters rented and that
the widowed Mrs Potter, Beatrix's mother, eventually
purchased as her final residence.
-- Lakefield is the house where Beatrix Potter first stayed
in Near Sawrey with her parents. She painted its garden.
- Beatrix Potter mentioned Ees Bridge in her letters.
- The "Inn" noted in Near Sawrey is the Tower Bank Arms. It
appears in The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck.
The map is below, and Marta has also pinned it here (where it
can be enlarged with a double-click). If you spot any others,
send your finds to [email protected]
For the Collectors:
A short article on the influence of Lucy Beswick (wife of the
chairman and managing director of the Beswick Company) on
the development of the line of Beatrix Potter character
figurines. Thank you to Connie Neumann for this one!
Tidbits:
On the first page of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie
Society (Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows, 2008), set in
1946, this astounding paragraph:
"English Foibles seemed so promising at first. After all, one
should be able to write reams about the Society to Protest the
Glorification of the English Bunny. I unearthed a photograph of
the Vermin Exterminators' Trade Union, marching down an
Oxford street with placards screaming 'Down with Beatrix
Potter!' But what is there to write about after a caption?
Nothing, that's what."
Yes, it is a work of fiction.
In Closing:
Thank you for joining us again, and thank you to all those
who got in touch over the last six weeks. We look forward to
more news of upcoming events, reports on events just past,
stories, photos and items of interest on all things Potterrelated (in 100 to 150 words). Please send submissions for the
next issue by April 20.
Happy Easter to all!
Copyright 2015, The Beatrix Potter Society
All rights reserved, UK Registered Charity No. 281198