New Beatrix Potter story discovered

The trend of long-lost manuscripts rising again continues: First it was Harper Lee, then Dr. Seuss, now Beatrix Potter.

A new Beatrix Potter story has been discovered more than 100 years after it was written.

The book will be published as a hardback by Frederick Warne and Co.in September 2016, and features an “older, slower and portlier” version of Peter Rabbit, Potter’s most popular creation, among other familiar characters, Hanks said.

Hanks found a reference to The Tale Of Kitty-In-Boots in an out-of-print literary history about the author. He is one of Britain’s best-known illustrators, thanks to his work on Roald Dahl’s books.

Besides her two-dozen children’s tales, Potter was an early natural scientist, expert on flora, fauna and farming, a prize-winning sheep breeder, and a conservationist when the concept was still new.

This year marks the 150th anniversary since Potter’s birth. She had numerous pets, however, and developed a love of landscape, flora and fauna.

“She was a fierce campaigner on local conservation issues and passionate about preserving a way of life”, the National Trust writes of Potter.

Hanks said that after she searched the V & A’s Beatrix Potter Collections, she discovered both a handwritten manuscript of the story and a typset one.

Only one illustration by Potter appears to exist.

Potter told her publisher in letters that the story went unfinished because of “interruptions” – including the start of WWI and her marriage.

Generations of children have grown up with Potter’s tales of animal characters including Peter Rabbit, Jemima Puddle-Duck and hedgehog Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle.

“She lived in constant fear that Kitty might be stolen – ‘I hear there is a shocking fashion for black cat-skin muffs; wherever is Kitty gone to?” They were very common cats.

In an excerpt of the book, provided by BBC, the “serious, well-behaved” cat calls herself “Miss Catherine St. Quintin” and wears a “gentleman’s Norfolk jacket and little fur-lined boots”.