Beatrix Potter Books
We sell the entire range of Beatrix Potter books from our shop in Gloucester, and now you can buy them on line.
This book tells the story of a poor tailor, his cat, and the mice that live in his shop. He has many scraps of cloth and ribbons left over that are too small for any practical use. The mice take these and make fine clothes for themselves.
The tailor sends his cat Simpkin to buy food and a twist of cherry-coloured silk for a coat the mayor has commissioned for his wedding, which will take place on Christmas morning.
While the cat is gone, he frees the mice from teacups where Simpkin has imprisoned them. When Simpkin returns and finds his mice gone, he hides the twist in anger. When the tailor falls ill, the mice save the day by completing the coat.
A motion picture version of the novel was released in 1989 on national television featuring Ian Holm and Jude Law.
An animated adaptation of the story was featured on The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends in 1993.
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The Tale of Peter Rabbit (1902)
The Tale of Peter Rabbit is the first in the series of children's books written and illustrated by Beatrix Potter, and is perhaps her best-known work. The book was written for private amusement, but publication was urged by Potter's friends.
Peter Rabbit and his three sisters (Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cotton-tail) live with their mother under the roots of a large fir tree. Peter, who is an adventurous young bunny, invades the garden of Mr. McGregor. This is the same garden where his father had met with an unfortunate accident and was made into a pie. After Peter has helped himself to some of the garden's vegetables and wanders about to find some parsley to settle his full belly, he is chased by the angry farmer. As he runs, he loses his shoes among the vegetables, and then gets caught up in the netting that protects a group of gooseberry bushes. Peter escapes just in time after a group of helpful birds encourage him to try to loose himself one more time. He loses his jacket as he wiggles free just before Mr. McGregor can trap him with a sieve. He then ducks into a gardening shed and hides in a watering can, but gives himself away when he can't help but sneeze. After three more close calls (avoiding a cat and eluding Mr. McGregor twice) he finally makes it safely out of the garden and returns home, to collapse on the floor of his home. Mr. McGregor makes a scarecrow of the clothing Peter leaves behind. Peter's sisters enjoy a bread and blackberry dinner, but Peter finds he is still not feeling well (after having eaten too much and then spent time in the wet watering can) and is sent to bed by his mother with only a bit of chamomile tea for his meal.
The character of Mr. McGregor is thought to be based on a local resident of the village of Dalguise in Perthshire, where Potter holidayed as a child.
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The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin (1903)
Squirrel Nutkin goes along with a group of squirrels to Owl Island to gather nuts. However, while all the other squirrels are busy collecting nuts, Nutkin is often playing or making mischief. This occurs over the course of six days. Each time they arrive, the other squirrels present the island's resident owl, Old Brown, with gifts to earn his permission to gather nuts. Each time as well, Nutkin dances and taunts the owl with sing-song riddles. Eventually, Nutkin annoys Old Brown too many times. The owl captures Nutkin and tries to skin him alive. Nutkin escapes, but not without losing most of his tail.
The Tale of Benjamin Bunny (1904)
The book deals with Benjamin and his cousin Peter Rabbit going to Mr McGregor's garden, while he is away, to find the clothes Peter lost in The Tale of Peter Rabbit. They find them and some onions but then must hide from a cat. They are then rescued by Benjamin's father. His father then gives them both a good whipping with a switch to punish them.
The Tale of Two Bad Mice (1904)
The story is about the exploits of two mice named Tom Thumb and Hunka Munka who break into a dollhouse, while its occupants are out for a walk. The two mice wreck havoc, smashing plaster plates of pretend food, upending dishes and shredding feather beds, before finally running back to their hole with a fair number of things from the house. In response the little girl who owns the dollhouse buys a policeman doll, while the nurse buys a mousetrap. In repentance for causing so much trouble Hunka Munka goes, each morning, into the dollhouse to clean it.
The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle (1905)
A little girl loses her handkerchiefs and goes on a search for them. She sees some white cloths on the grass high up a hill and climbs up to discover a little hedgehog washerwoman, Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle, with her handkerchiefs freshly laundered, along with many other interesting articles such as stockings for a hen and Died
The Tale of the Pie and the Patty-Pan (1905)
When a little dog named Duchess gets an invitation to tea at the home of Ribby the cat, she becomes dreadfully afraid that Ribby is going to serve her mouse pie. Duchess bakes a delightful veal and ham pie and comes up with a very clever plan to substitute her own pie for Ribby’s. However, their pies become mixed up and Duchess becomes convinced she has eaten a patty-pan.
The Tale of Mr. Jeremy Fisher (1906)
This book tells the story of a frog who decides to go fishing for minnows for supper. After several misadventures, including being swallowed by a big trout and then spat out again, he gives up and has a dinner of roasted grasshopper and salad with his friends, Sir Isaac Newton (a newt), and Alderman Ptolemy Tortoise.
An animated adaptation of the story, shown alongside The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle, was featured on The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends in 1993.
The Story of A Fierce Bad Rabbit (1906)
A bad rabbit comes across a good rabbit sitting on a bench eating a carrot. Wanting the carrot, he takes it from the good rabbit and scratches him. The good rabbit escapes and hides in a nearby hole. Meanwhile, a hunter notices the bad rabbit sitting on the bench and mistakes it for a bird. He fires at the bad rabbit, but finds nothing but a carrot and a rabbit tail on the bench. The good rabbit then sees the bad rabbit running past, minus its whiskers and tail.
The Story of Miss Moppet (1906)
Teased by a mouse, Moppet attempts to catch him, but is too late and hits her on a cupboard. Appearing unwell, she wraps her head in a duster and sits before the fire. The mouse’s curiosity piqued, he emerges from his hiding place and creeps closer and closer to Moppet. Watching the mouse’s movements through a hole in the duster, Moppet waits until he is close enough before she pounces and captures him, tying him up in the duster and tossing it around as payback for his prior teasing. However, the mouse is able to escape because of the hole in the duster.
The Tale of Tom Kitten (1907)
This book tells the story of three little kittens who get into mischief. Their mother (Tabitha Twitchit) grooms and dresses them up for company she is having, then sends them out with the admonishment that they not get dirty. They not only get dirty but lose their clothes to some passing ducks. When they return, she hides them upstairs and tells her company that they have the measles.
An animated adaptation of the story, shown alongside The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck, was featured on The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends in 1993.
The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck (1908)
This book tells the story of Jemima Puddle-Duck, introduced in the The Tale of Tom Kitten, who seeks out a nesting place away from the farm. A charming fox, who looks not unlike Mr. Tod, talks her into nesting at his house on a mysteriously ample supply of feathers. He sends the naive Jemima out to collect traditional herbs for stuffing a duck, saying it is for an omelette. The farm collie, Kep, hears about this, realizes what the fox is really up to, and intervenes. Jemima is eventually able to hatch four ducklings.
An animated adaptation of the story, shown along with The Tale of Tom Kitten, was featured on The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends in 1993.
The Tale of Samuel Whiskers or, The Roly-Poly Pudding (1908)
The hero is the young Tom Kitten; other main characters are the rat Mr Samuel Whiskers and his wife Anna Maria, who catch Tom Kitten and almost succeed in using him to make a roly-poly pudding.
The book is dedicated to the author's fancy rat Sammy "the intelligent pink-eyed representative of a persecuted (but irrepressible) race and affectionate little friend, and most accomplished thief".
An animated adaptation of the story was featured on The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends in 1993.
The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies (1909)
When Benjamin Bunny and his children, the “Flopsy Bunnies,” go to Mr. McGregor’s rubbish heap, they are pleasantly surprised to find it filled with overgrown lettuces. They eat their fill, and then fall asleep. When they are found by Mr. McGregor and put in a bag, Thomasina Tittlemouse comes to their rescue.
The book was also turned into a 1993 animated movie.
The Tale of Ginger and Pickles (1909)
This book tells the story of shopkeepers Ginger, a tomcat, and Pickles, a terrier. They allow their customers to purchase on credit and as a result, are unable to collect enough to pay the bills. They subsequently go out of business.
Their competitor, Tabitha Twitchit, raises her prices once customers are forced to shop at her store and a few try to compensate by selling some specialized goods with limited success. Eventually, Henny Penny, a hen, reopens the shop.
Throughout the story, various characters from Potter's previous books make cameo appearances in the artwork.
The Tale of Mrs. Tittlemouse (1910)
This book tells the story of a wood-mouse named Mrs. Tittlemouse and her efforts to keep her house in order despite numerous unwanted visitors.
The Tale of Timmy Tiptoes (1911)
Timmy Tiptoes, a squirrel, and his wife Goody decide to gather nuts to lay up for the winter and spring. When the tree stumps they were using to store their nuts in are full, they begin to use a woodpecker’s tree hole. Meanwhile, a squirrel named Silvertail digs up another squirrel’s nuts, resulting in a fight and causing a spate of digging by the other squirrels. A flock of birds flies by, one of them singing about digging up nuts. The squirrels follow this bird to where Timmy and Goody are gathering nuts, where it continues to sing its song. When they hear the birdsong, the squirrels attack Timmy and chase him. Capturing him, they take him to the tree hole he had used to store his nuts in and force him into it, injuring him. They intend to imprison him until he confesses. Goody meanwhile returns home, but as Timmy does not return, she goes out to look for him.
When Timmy comes to, he finds himself finds himself tucked into a moss bed and confronted by a chipmunk, who on hearing his story, entices Timmy into eating quantities of nuts while he is confined to bed. Unable to find Timmy, Goody continues to gather nuts on her own. While emptying some into an empty tree root, she encounters a chipmunk who tells her that her home is being inundated with nuts and that her husband Chippy Hackee is missing. Upon learning that Goody’s husband Timmy is also missing, Mrs. Hackee leads her to where Chippy is, the same hole that Timmy had been forced into by the other squirrels. Timmy and Goody are reunited, but Timmy is too fat to squeeze out of the hole. Chippy on the other hand, refuses to leave. Two weeks later the top of the tree is blown off in a strong wind, enabling Timmy to return home. Chippy continues to stay until he is forced to leave by the arrival of a bear. Timmy and Goody now keep their nut cache secured with a padlock.
The Tale of Mr. Tod (1912)
Mr. Tod, a fox, and Tommy Brock, a badger, are both troublesome neighbours and "disagreeable people." Mr. Tod has a habit of taking up lodging in other people's houses. Mr. Brock visits a rabbit friend, who turns out to be Mr. Bouncer Bunny from The Tale of Benjamin Bunny, and then steals his son Benjamin Bunny's children with plans to cook and eat them. Mr. Tod however finds that Mr. Brock has taken up residence in one of his homes, and after many comical efforts to rouse him, they fight it out. Meanwhile, Benjamin and his cousin Peter have come to rescue Benjamin's children, and the fight gives them a chance to sneak off with the baby bunnies.
An animated adaptation of the story was featured on The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends in 1993.
The Tale of Pigling Bland (1913)
The Tale of Johnny Town-Mouse (1918)
The book retells the Aesop Fable of "The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse." The country mouse, Timmy Willie, falls asleep in a hamper, and is carried with the vegetables to the city, where the mice, including Johnny Town-Mouse, make him welcome, but finding the cat frightening and the food strange, he returns by the hamper. Sometime later, Johnny Town-Mouse pays him a visit, but finding such things as cows and lawnmowers frightening, returns to the city himself.
The Tale of Little Pig Robinson (1930)
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