A convivial, and slightly wistful Christmas letter about snow, snowball fights, her paintbox, and wanting “to do a picture book some day of the village [Sawrey] in the snow”. Mentioning various Warnes and Betsy Cannon (the daughter of her farmer-tenants at Hill Top House, Sawrey).
The letter is written from her parents’ London home in Kensington (the Potter family’s main residence), but mentions two more fond locations – Sawrey, her home in the Lake District (where she would ultimately settle permanently after her marriage in 1913), and Bedford Square, the home of her publisher and fiancé, Norman Warne and family: “… it must be beautiful in the country, I wish I were at Sawrey […] I am just going out for a short walk to warm my feet, I walked round dear old Bedford Square yesterday, it looked so pretty in the sunshine, the shutters were up at [no.]8.”
Writing to Millie (Amelia) Warne, sister of Norman, Fruing and Harold, she mentions her recent visit to the Warnes (sans Norman, who died the previous year) (“it was short but a great deal better than nothing”). She writes that, now that the snow has come (“I should think you are like the top of the alps today”), she wishes she was still there, “to snowball Louie” (Millie’s niece, Harold’s daughter, Alice Louisa Warne, known as Louie): the idea sparked by seeing a snowball fight from her Kensington window - “I can see 5 little girls having a regular game of snowballs in a quiet street opposite”.
Christmas was an important time for Potter’s creations as she often gifted illustrated tales to her child friends. Christmas 1906, the year of this letter, Potter gave Winifred Warne (Fruing and Mary’s eldest daughter) an illustrated story, called The Roly-Poly Pudding, which featured her pet white rat, Samuels Whiskers. The Roly-Poly Pudding (later renamed The Tale of Samuel Whiskers) was chosen to be the companion volume to Tom Kitten for publication the following Christmas (1907). We do not know what gift Betsy Cannon received, although we know from this letter that “a nice little letter of thanks” was received by BP “from little Betsy Cannon, at the farm, signed “yours respectifully” [sic]”. BP asks Millie of this neologism, “is it not a beautiful word?!”
The dreamed-of snowy picture book may not have appeared, although Potter did paint some snow-laden watercolours of Sawrey in 1909 (V&A collections), and the winter months from Peter Rabbit’s Almanac for 1929 (January, November, December) feature some festive scenes with her best-loved character.
She writes of her plan to alter a picture in the possession of “Mr Warne”: “the railings are not quite right. I can get it some time, or else bring up my paintbox.” She signs off, “With love to all.”
Potter’s collaboration with the publishing Warne family resulted in some of the greatest children’s books of all time. The professional relationship became something more, when Norman proposed to Potter in the summer of 1905. Sadly their relationship was cut short, as he died shortly after the engagement was entered upon. Her relationship with the family (both personal and professional) continued, particularly in her warm friendship with Norman’s sister Millie, and her loyalty to the firm continued to the end of her life.
Provenance: Private Collection of Thomas & Greta Schuster; Sotheby’s, London, 30 November 1993, lot 279 (two letters).
