Potter's World

Beatrix Potter produced new colour illustrations for The Tale of Peter Rabbit and was there to check on the quality of the reproduction and printing. She thought about every aspect of the book including the typefaces, binding, cover designs, endpapers and titles pages making this truly a book 'By Beatrix Potter'.

The Tale of Peter Rabbit has always been published in the same much loved small format. But originally all the books were published with different coloured covers. In 1930 all twenty-three were reissued in a standardised series of little books the same size as the original Tale of Peter Rabbit. In the 1940s, with Beatrix Potter’s approval, they were given the white dust jackets which everyone recognises today.

By the time Penguin Books acquired Frederick Warne in 1985, the printing film was beginning to deteriorate.

The centenary of the first publication of The Tale of Peter Rabbit in 2002 gave Frederick Warne a wonderful opportunity to revisit every detail of the design of these little books to prepare them for their next 100 years.

The aim was to return to the first editions and recreate the books exactly as Beatrix Potter intended them, while using modern printing and design techniques to enhance the quality in a way that was not possible in Beatrix Potter’s day.

The most important aspect to consider were the pictures, the most famous and valuable element of the books. Massive advances in colour origination and printing in the previous 10 years meant better reproductions were achievable than ever before, using the most up-to-date digital technology.

The intention was to produce reproductions that retain as much colour as possible, have as few of the imperfections brought about by aging (foxing or the degeneration of the china white Beatrix herself used to make corrections for instance) and for the final result to be "jewel-like" and to give the impression that the picture had been painted straight onto the page of the book.

The 2002 edition sees six illustrations restored to The Tale of Peter Rabbit, four that were removed in 1903 plus two that had never been used before, Beatrix having initially prepared more illustrations than could be accommodated in the original format.

The paper stock was changed to a creamy-white, going away from the stark white of the paper that was fashionable in the 1980s and moving back to a colour that was closer to Beatrix's off-white watercolour paper.

The text was reset in the typeface Founders Caslon, which is of the correct period and of a complementary weight to the illustrations. Each opening was redesigned individually to ensure the correct balance between type and picture was maintained throughout the series. This task was carried out by Douglas Martin, typography historian and working designer, who hand spaced the text on every page to achieve the most pleasing layout.

The white dust jackets are part of the recognisable appeal of Beatrix Potter’s little books and they were preserved for the 2002 editions with a design that maintained the integrity and authenticity of the original verion. The covers were simplified by dropping all unnecessary text and were matt varnished to give a more appropriate period feel. The illustrations used on the cover were contained in a box the same shape as the original pasted-on cover pictures, giving each book its individual identity.


The hardback board case under the dust jacket was changed for the whole series to the same shade of blue, the universally recognised colour for Peter Rabbit. The text and pictures of the cases echoed the jacket designs.