A recent auction of children's books by Bloomsbury Auctions offered a significant selection of Beatrix Potter. Various lots including first editions were on offer, but three in particular stood out.
These were early sketches for some of Potter's best loved works: Jeremy Fisher, Fierce Bad Rabbit and Samuel Whiskers.
 Fierce Bad Rabbit (Click to enlarge) |
The Fierce Bad Rabbit illustrations are three brown ink over pencil drawings, and instantly recognisable to fans of Peter Rabbit, and similar books. One contains a man running with a gun resembling Mr McGregor. The work beat its £5,000-7,000 listing to sell for £9,000.
The Tom Kitten illustration shows the kitten scampering away - an early sketch for The Tale of Samuel Whiskers. It is in watercolour, whilst the background is in ink alone. It went under the hammer for £4400, easily passing its £2,000-3,000 valuation.
 Jeremy Fisher (Click to enlarge) |
Finally, the Jeremy Fisher in full, beautiful watercolour over the oval pen and ink drawing sparked a small bidding war and quadrupled its expected price of £3,000-5,000 to be taken home for £16,000.
A demonstration that people are happy to pay for rare, beautiful pieces which capture classic works.
