Background:

These prints are from the First Edition of The Tale of Tom Kitten by Beatrix Potter and published in England in 1907.  The prints portray the naughty adventures of Tom and his siblings - Moppet and Mittens.

Like many of Potter's stories, the illustrations are based on pets that she had or was familiar with.  Tom's mother - Tabitha Twitchit - was named after a new kitten at Belle Green, where Potter stayed while her home at Hill Top was under renovation.  The ducks are drawn after those found at her cousin's home at Putney Park in London.

Many of Tom's adventures take placed in a cottage garden, modeled after another cousin's garden at Gwaynynog - "very productive but not tidy".