Fanny English manuscript and illustrations of Peter Rabbit

Access and use

Location of collection:
University of Virginia, Special Collections Dept.
Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library
University of Virginia
P.O. Box 400110
160 McCormick Rd
Charlottesville, Virginia 22904-4110
Contact for questions and access:
POC: Brenda Gunn
Phone: (434) 924-1037
Phone: (434) 243-1776
Fax: (434) 924-4968
Restrictions:

This collection has been minimally processed and is open for research.

Preferred citation:

MSS 16959, Fanny English manuscript and illustrations of Peter Rabbit, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia Library.

Summary

Extent:
0.03 Cubic Feet One letter-size file folder
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

MSS 16959, Fanny English manuscript and illustrations of Peter Rabbit, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia Library.

Background

Scope and content:

This collection contains a manuscript album created by Fanny Hutchinson King English (1871–1944) as a gift for her daughter Mary (1904–1976) in 1907, when Mary was three years old. A bookseller's ticket is affixed to the pastedown, and a gift inscription reading "Mary Dennis English. March 10, 1907" appears on the opposite pastedown. The album comprises twenty-eight pages of manuscript and watercolor illustration and contains three pieces of correspondence laid in. One side of the dos-a-dos book duplicates a post-1903 edition of Beatrix Potter's "The Tale of Peter Rabbit" in manuscript and watercolor illustration, identifiable as a post-1903 edition by the substitution of "Peter shed big tears" for the first edition's "Peter wept." The reverse side contains six original botanical and landscape watercolors by Mary English, executed at an unspecified later date. Two watercolors are laid in: a collection of daisies inscribed "Mama darling" on verso, and a horse labeled "Limerick" on recto with the inscription "To darling, darling Mummy from Mary" on verso, dated 1918. The three pieces of correspondence laid in include letters from Mary's grandmother Rachel Anne English (1832–1920) and from Fanny to Mary, written across Mary's childhood and adulthood.

Acquisition information:
This collection was purchased from Marginalia Rare Books by the Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia on 1 April 2026.
Physical description:
Good.
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard