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98 POTTER, Beatrix. “After losing his shoes, Peter ran on four legs and went faster”. 1927 original artwork Beatrix Potter’s recreation of an illustration of Peter Rabbit, abandoned for the trade edition and only present (as a black and white line drawing) in the author’s privately printed edition of her most famous work. This is one of the original drawings created by the artist and sold in America to raise money for the National Trust. In 1927 a strip of Lake Windermere’s shore, Cockshott Point, was threatened and the National Trust undertook an urgent appeal
for money. Potter wished to help raise funds to ensure that the land was never developed, but was unable even to persuade her mother to contribute (although her house overlooked the Point). Potter therefore decided to raise money by selling some of her pictures in America. “She sent fifty signed copies of drawings of Peter Rabbit to the Editor of Horn Book Magazine , Miss Bertha Mahony in August 1927. Miss Mahony sold the drawings on behalf of the National Trust at a guinea each, and there were requests for more drawings, the final sum raised was £104, a substantial donation to the appeal” (Taylor, Whalley, Hobbs, and Battick). The pictures were sold at the Boys & Girls Bookshop on Boylston Street, Boston. Provenance: 1) bought by Hilda D. Atterberg (1896–1992) at the Bookshop for Boys & Girls on Boylston Street, Boston, in
sharjah international book fair
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