Letters to Children

Beatrix Potter was prolific letter writer and among the hundreds of her surviving letters are a large number that were written to children. The chief recipients were the eight children of her former governess, Annie Moore. Beatrix wrote to them individually, long delightful letters illustrated with witty drawings and full of news about her pets and her holidays, or simply tellings stories she had invented. It was in a letter to Noel Moore, written in 1893 to cheer him up when he was ill, that she wrote down for the first time the tale of Peter Rabbit, from which she was to create her most famous children's book. Judy Taylor, biographer of Beatrix Potter, has now compiled this collection dedicated to Beatrix's letters to children. The picture letters and miniature letters are shown in facsimile and the book is illustrated with photographs and Beatrix Potter's own drawings.