An unknown Beatrix Potter story is to be published for the first time in September 100 years after it was written, with illustrations by Quentin Blake.



The existence of The Tale of Kitty-in-Boots was discovered two years ago by publisher Jo Hanks in a letter that Beatrix Potter had sent her publisher in 1914. It mentioned the story of “a well-behaved prime black Kitty cat, who leads rather a double life”, and referred to an unedited manuscript of the tale.



A search through the V&A archive in London revealed three manuscripts handwritten in school notebooks, one rough colour sketch of Kitty-in-Boots, a dummy book with some of the typeset manuscript laid out, and a pencil sketch of arch-villain Mr Tod.

Other letters in the archive show that Potter intended to finish the tale, but “interruptions began” – and continued: from the outbreak of the first world war, to marriage, to sheep farming and colds. Potter never returned to the story and it remained unfinished when she died in 1943.

One of Quentin Blake’s new illustrations for The Tale of Kitty-in-Boots.

“The tale really is the best of Beatrix Potter,” said Hanks. “It has double identities, colourful villains and a number of favourite characters from other tales (including Mr Tod, Mrs Tiggy-Winkle, Ribby and Tabitha Twitchit)”. An “older, slower and portlier” Peter Rabbit also makes an appearance.

Quentin Blake, the artist who gave Roald Dahl’s books their distinctive look, agreed to illustrate the tale. He said: “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almost incredible when, early in 2015, I was sent the manuscript of a story by Beatrix Potter; one which had lain unpublished for 100 years and which, with the exception of a single drawing, she had never illustrated.”

“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,” he continued. “I have a strange feeling that it might have been waiting for me.”

Another beautiful Quentin Blake illustration for The Tale of Kitty-in-Boots by Beatrix Potter.

The Tale of Kitty-in-Boots will be published in September by Frederick Warne & Co, Beatrix Potter’s original publisher, and now an imprint of Penguin Random House children’s books.

