Peter Rabbit - Part 1

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Collect Steiff Stuffed Animals

Just about everybody had a treasured stuffed toy when they were young. The feeling of happiness and nostalgia of these toys is what makes some adults become collectors of them, namely stuffed animals from Steiff. They are in high demand by collectors when available at fairs and auctions, namely stuffed bears. The legend of Steiff stuffed animals started sometime in 1880 in Germany, in the town of Giengen an der Brenz. Margarete Steiff, a wheelchair bound seamstress, made toy animals from her own designs as a hobby.

They were mostly of dogs, cats, pigs and elephants. Stuffed animals that we know of today began when Richard Steiff, a nephew of Margarette, created the first toy bear with jointed limbs in 1902. This bear with jointed limbs became popular worldwide, and as a result, it was the winner at the World Exhibition that was held in 1094 in St. Louis. It was later named after President Teddy Roosevelt and became known as the teddy bear. The company is known for its high quality creations, which are still made in the town of Giengen. The town of Giengen is considered a mecca for lovers of stuffed animals, and visitors can experience an Adventure Museum as well as the Steiff factory. The museum tells the history of the products and a gift shop sells bears, replicas of past animal products, historic catalogues and porcelain.

The Steiff Classic range is the line that is most sought after by collectors, featuring a wide variety of animals that are all hand made. A majority of the creations date back to the early 1900's up to the 1920's. There is also a bear with a stitched on Valentine's heart, which makes a romantic gift. The range also includes characters from the Beatrix Potter stories, including Peter Rabbit and the Mrs. Tiggy Winkle hedgehog. Another children's favorite that is available is the Paddington Bear, with his trademark blue hat and red duffle coat. The majority of Steiff baby animals are created with babies and toddlers in mind. Teddy bears, kittens and puppies are included in this collection that is designed from durable, high quality materials.

The Cosy Animal line has machine washable animals and there are also children's clothes, keyrings, bags and gift sets. Another great collection is the Steiff Limited Edition selection that showcases a pink and grey replica of the world famous 1908 teddy bear. You can also find a Moon Bear, a Grizzly Bear and a cute Pierrot Bear in the selection. Another one of my favorites in this range is the famous character from story books, the Rupert Bear. However, the teddy bear will continue to be the toy that is most associated with the company.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=L.K._Reid

The Works of Beatrix Potter

The works of Beatrix Potter with an active table of contents. Works include:

THE TALE OF PETER RABBIT
THE TAILOR OF GLOUCESTER
THE TALE OF SQUIRREL NUTKIN
THE TALE OF BENJAMIN BUNNY
THE TALE OF TWO BAD MICE
THE TALE OF MRS. TIGGY-WINKLE
THE PIE AND THE PATTY-PAN
THE TALE OF MR. JEREMY FISHER
THE STORY OF A FIERCE BAD RABBIT
THE STORY OF MISS MOPPET
THE TALE OF TOM KITTEN
THE TALE OF JEMIMA PUDDLE-DUCK
THE ROLY-POLY PUDDING
THE TALE OF THE FLOPSY BUNNIES
THE TALE OF MRS. TITTLEMOUSE
THE TALE OF TIMMY TIPTOES
THE TALE OF MR. TOD
THE TALE OF PIGLING BLAND
GINGER AND PICKLES

Works are not illustrated.
Price: $0.99
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The Tale of Ginger and Pickles (Illustrated Edition) (Dodo Press)

(Helen) Beatrix Potter (1866-1943) was an English author and illustrator, botanist, and conservationist, born in Kensington, London best known for her children's books, which featured animal characters such as Peter Rabbit. Educated at home by a succession of governesses, she had little opportunity to mix with other children. Potter had frogs and newts, and even a pet bat. The basis of her many projects and stories were the small animals that she smuggled into the house or observed during family holidays in Scotland and the Lake District. She was encouraged to publish her story, The Tale of Peter Rabbit (1902), but she struggled to find a publisher until it was accepted when she was 36, by Frederick Warne & Co. The small book and her following works were extremely well received and she gained an independent income from the sales. Potter eventually wrote 23 books. These were published in a small format, easy for a child to hold and read. Her writing efforts abated around 1920 due to poor eyesight.
Price: $12.99

The Complete Tales of Beatrix Potter

This handsome edition brings all of Beatrix Potter's 23 tales and verses together in one book. Each story is complete and unabridged, and all the original illustrations, both color and black-and-white, are included. Potter's tales were often connected with real people, places and animals, so each story has a brief introductory note about its history. As an added bonus, The Complete Tales also includes four other works by Potter, which remained unpublished in her lifetime.

As part of Peter Rabbit's centennial celebration, the first printing of The Complete Tales will be published with a limited edition lithograph inside.
Price: $35.00
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The Tale of Tom Kitten (Illustrated Edition) (Dodo Press)

(Helen) Beatrix Potter (1866-1943) was an English author and illustrator, botanist, and conservationist, born in Kensington, London best known for her children's books, which featured animal characters such as Peter Rabbit. Educated at home by a succession of governesses, she had little opportunity to mix with other children. Potter had frogs and newts, and even a pet bat. The basis of her many projects and stories were the small animals that she smuggled into the house or observed during family holidays in Scotland and the Lake District. She was encouraged to publish her story, The Tale of Peter Rabbit (1902), but she struggled to find a publisher until it was accepted when she was 36, by Frederick Warne & Co. The small book and her following works were extremely well received and she gained an independent income from the sales. Potter eventually wrote 23 books. These were published in a small format, easy for a child to hold and read. Her writing efforts abated around 1920 due to poor eyesight.
Price: $12.99
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Peter Rabbit's Giant Storybook (Potter)

Imagine getting fourteen of Beatrix Potter's classic tales in one deluxe volume. Including all her most popular stories--The Tales of Peter Rabbit, Tom Kitten, Mr. Jeremy Fisher, Jemima Puddle-Duck and more-- this 12 inch by 12 inch oversized hardcover offers high quality reproductions of Beatrix Potter's original art and all the charm of the original little books, perfect for reading aloud. But at this price, parents won't worry for a moment about letting kids read it to themselves.

Illustrated by Beatrix Potter
Price: $15.99
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The Making of Beswick Pottery

The founder of the Beswick pottery, was James Wright Beswick in 1892, it never become successful until 1894 when his son John joined him. It was due to their success that in 1897 they bought the Gold Street Works, sadly most of this area of Stoke is now occupied by a retail park, they traded as J.W. Beswick until 1936.

Their popularity stems from producing extremely colourful decorated tableware, plant-pots and jugs that adorned many a Victorian home along with reproduction 'antique' Staffordshire cats and dogs figurines. The Beswick production was synonymous with elaborate moulding and painstaking hand-painting which turned out their high quality figures. James died in 1921, with son John taking over the reigns,he died in 1936 and it was John's son John Ewart Beswick that took over the reigns and the Sales Director being Gilbert Beswick. The company was made a limited company in 1936, John Beswick Ltd.

1930's saw modernisation with more advance methods in producing the pottery wares which allowed J.W. Beswick to be very competitive in the market place, they had 400 people working for them at this time, the company also turned to producing animal figures which proved to be a wise choice and was a successful period for them. The modeller of these animal figures was Arthur Gredington, he used champions in their fields as the basis for his models of racehorses and champion dogs. They continued to expand their catalogue of animals figures which included fish, birds, farm animals and wild animals, these were all made to look so realistic.

The war years (1939 - 45) for Beswick were, like with all manufacturing in the UK extremely restricted and many of their pieces were not as highly decorated as usual, but Beswick grabbed the opportunity of producing for export, which was encouraged by the government also with the advantage that the export items could be more highly decorated than the items intended for the home market. Beswick exported to the U.S.A., Canada, Australia and New Zealand and it accounted for 80% of all items they produced.

Lucy Beswick came up with the idea in 1947 to make characters from the Beatrix Potter books and in 1948 it had acquired a licence to produce some of the characters which included Jemima Puddle-Duck, Peter Rabbit, Flopsy, Mopsy and Cottontail. And with the success of the Beatrix Potter Beswick figurines they started in the production of Walt Disney characters, some of those characters immortalised by Beswick were Snow White, Bambi, Mickey Mouse, Winnie the Pooh, Christopher Robin, Eeyore, Piglet and Tigger figures.

In 1969 after three generations of the Beswick family and with no new generation of Beswick to take over the family business, the company was sold to Royal Doulton. In 1989 the Royal Albert or Royal Doulton mark replaced the Beswick mark. Finally in 2002 Royal Doulton ceased production of Beswick products.

2005 and it all changed when a Yorkshire entrepreneur, John Sinclair bought the Beswick name along with production moulds and archive material, from Royal Doulton. He is quoted as saying "I am committed to manufacturing a small, hand-painted range in Stoke on Trent, which will appeal to collectors." Two collections will be launched, "Beswick England" a prestigious range which will include limited editions which will made in Stoke-on Trent and "John Beswick" featuring animals in the style of the originals, which will be manufactured overseas.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Colin_A_Taylor

The Tale of Beatrix Potter: A Biography

When Beatrix Potter died in 1943, few knew the full story of her life. Originally published only three years after Beatrix Potter's death, this book tells her story. It was extensively revised in 1985 to include new material that had come to light.
Price: $12.49
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The Tailor of Gloucester - Part 5

The Final part of The Tailor of Gloucester



This is just brilliant - I hope you think so too

http://www.beatrix-potter-figurines.com