The Tale of Mrs. Tittlemouse was published by Frederick Warne & Co. in July 1910. Mrs. Tittlemouse is a wood mouse who keeps an extraordinarily tidy home in a bank under a hedge. Her domestic tranquility is constantly disrupted by uninvited guests: beetles who leave dirty footprints, ladybirds who refuse to leave, a spider named Mr. Jackson (actually a toad) who tracks mud everywhere and eats her honey.
The comedy is domestic and miniature — Potter’s equivalent of a sitcom about a house-proud woman besieged by messy neighbors. The entomological details are precise (Potter was a serious naturalist who had published research on fungal spores), and the illustrations of Mrs. Tittlemouse’s home — with its tiny passages, pantries, and store-rooms — reward close examination.
Potter the Naturalist
Potter’s background as a natural historian is visible throughout. Before her children’s books, she had studied fungi with scientific rigour, producing watercolours of mushroom species that were presented to the Linnean Society. Her beetles, ladybirds, and bees in this book are drawn with the same scientific precision — animals observed before they are characterised.
Collecting The Tale of Mrs. Tittlemouse
First edition (Frederick Warne & Co., London, 1910): Gray-green boards with mounted color illustration.
Approximate market values:
- Fine: $1,000–$3,000
- Very good: $400–$1,000
Projected values (2026–2036): Steady appreciation.