Peter Rabbit discovering a basket of carrots on his steps [original watercolor]. - Potter, Beatrix (1892)
The watercolor ca. 1892 shows Peter Rabbit discovering a basket of carrots on his steps (The V&A has a preparatory sketch). It is a fine example of her developing imaginative style during the years when she was trying to earn money through the sale of drawings to publishers, before she succeeded in placing Peter Rabbit with Frederick Warne. She sold this drawing to the Nister firm for 7 shillings and 6 pence. It was first published as one of the cover drawings on Nister’s Changing Pictures [1893] and as the frontispiece to Nister’s Isn’t It Funny [1894].