Peter Rabbit, Two Bad Mice, and Beatrix Potter

"Beatrix Potter's Garden"
23 October 2004 - 9 January 2005 Liverpool Museum ("This exhibition is now closed.")

"Beatrix Potter is one of the world's best-known authors and illustrators. Her wonderful creations and stories are loved by children and adults all over the world.

"2004 was the centenary of the publication in 1904 of 'The Tale of Two Bad Mice'.To celebrate, publishers Frederick Warne & Co organised a special exhibition at Liverpool Museum - Beatrix Potter's Garden....

"...Beatrix Potter's children's books are based in the natural world. Often, the characters in them are real animals that she kept as pets. Peter Rabbit and Benjamin Bunny were both real pet rabbits that she kept in her studio at the Potter family home in London, England.

"Beatrix kept all kinds of pets, including a hedgehog called Mrs Tiggy that she used as a model for illustrating, The Tale of Mrs Tiggy-Winkle...."

That's a pretty good short introduction to Beatrix Potter and her stories. "Peter Rabbit" is part of the cultural landscape now, at least in the English-speaking world.

And, judging from the opening screen of www.peterrabbit.com (which, as far as I know, has nothing to do with the Liverpool museum), the rabbit's gone global.

Related post:

• "Happy Birthday, Beatrix Potter"
  (July 28, 2008)