Lost Beatrix Potter tale found 100 years after being written

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A LOST story by famous British children’s author Beatrix Potter, The Tale of Kitty- in- Boots has been discovered among her memorabilia and will be published this year, more than a century after she wrote it.

The book world will be celebrating 150 years since the birth of Potter, one of the world’s best-loved children’s authors, who has captured the imagination of young and old with her beautifully illustrated tales.

Potter is making a posthumous comeback with the publication of an unseen story featuring an older Peter Rabbit.

The popular children’s author died in 1943, leaving The Tale of Kitty-in-Boots unfinished. It was lost for over a century, but has since been unearthed and Roald Dahl illustrator Quentin Blake is working on drawings to bring it to life.

Publisher Jo Hanks discovered the manuscript two years ago and chose Blake to illustrate it because he “understands the rebelliousness of animal characters and doesn’t patronise children, which was one of Potter’s bugbears”.

Blake was excited to accept the job after taking an instant liking to the story. “It seemed almost incredible when, early in 2015, I was sent the manuscript of a story by Beatrix Potter, one which had lain unpublished for 100 years and which, with the exception of a single drawing, she had never illustrated,” he said.

“I liked the story immediately, it’s full of incident and mischief and character and I was fascinated to think that I was being asked to draw pictures for it. I have a strange feeling that it might have been waiting for me.”

Potter described The Tale of Kitty-in-Boots in a 1914 letter to her publisher as being about “a wellbehaved prime black Kitty cat who leads rather a double life”. Hanks found the reference in an out-ofprint literary history about the author.

Other letters found in the archives of London’s V&A reveal that Potter hoped to finish the story but “interruptions began” including World War I, marriage and running a farm.

Potter brought everyday animals to life for children by giving them clothes, names and characters

Nevertheless, Hanks promises the tale, which needed only “light editing”, “really is the best of Beatrix Potter”. “It has double identities, colourful villains and a number of favourite characters from other tales (including Mr Tod, Mrs TiggyWinkle, Ribby and Tabitha Twitchit),” she told The Bookseller, adding that an “older, slower and portlier” Peter Rabbit also pops up in the story.

Potter’s The Tale Of Peter Rabbit was a huge success after being picked up in 1902 by British children.

The Tale of Kitty-in-Boots will hit shelves in September in celebration. – The Independent