1. Norman Warne became Potter's editor and they worked together on several subsequent books and related merchandise, such as soft toys and The Game of Peter Rabbit.
17 Facts About Norman Warne
1. 2.
In 1904, Potter and Warne worked closely together to develop a tale about two mice and a doll's house.
3.
Potter accepted, but on 25 August 1905, before a marriage could take place, Norman Warne died suddenly of pernicious anaemia Potter remained in touch with Norman Warne's sister Millie for many years, and his brothers Harold and Fruing became her editors.
4.
The relationship between Potter and Norman Warne became the basis for the film Miss Potter.
5.
In 1894, Frederick Warne retired from active management of the Bedford Street publishing firm bearing his name in London and ceded control to his three sons, Harold, Fruing, and Norman, before his death in 1905.
6.
Norman Warne's brothers were both married men, but when the 35-year-old Potter met him in 1901 he was a 33-year-old bachelor living with his widowed mother and his unmarried sister Amelia in the family house in Bedford Square, Bloomsbury.
7.
Norman Warne arrived in the Potter carriage with the elderly family cook Elizabeth Harper or her fellow illustrator and friend Gertrude Woodward.
8.
Potter and Norman Warne were never alone in each other's company.
9.
In 1903, Potter wrote to Warne that she was giving thought to a Peter Rabbit sequel to follow The Tailor of Gloucester and The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin but learned Norman had left London on a selling trip.
10.
Norman Warne was disappointed when Harold Warne invited her to the offices to discuss her ideas.
11.
Norman Warne abruptly declined his invitation and asked that her letters be forwarded to Norman.
12.
Norman Warne did, and the tale was accepted for 1904 publication as The Tale of Benjamin Bunny.
13.
The courtship between Potter and Norman Warne was conducted through the medium of Two Bad Mice and the letters surrounding it.
14.
Norman Warne had come to call him "Johnny Crow" in line with his nieces.
15.
Norman Warne had a hand in the mechanics of the illustrations, but Potter's letters, though circumspect, reveal her increasingly intimate and loving relationship with him and her growing frustration with parents who dreaded bringing into the family a man they considered their social inferior and a man who would take their housekeeper, nurse, and general factotum away from them.
16.
Norman Warne responded positively to Warne's growing appreciation of her professionalism and her artistry; they discussed the development of her works step-by-step and she realised his criticism and his advice always improved the product.
17.
In July 1905, Potter was engaged in correcting proofs for The Tale of Mrs Tiggy-Winkle when Norman Warne proposed marriage by letter on 25 July.