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The World of Beatrix Potter #22
Cecily Parsley's Nursery Rhymes
To celebrate Peter's birthday, Frederick Warne is publishing new editions of all 23 of Potter's original tales, which take the very first printings of Potter's works as their guide. The aim of these editions is to be as close as possible to Beatrix Potter's intentions while benefiting from modern printing and design techniques.
The colours and details of the watercolours in the volumes are reproduced more accurately than ever before, and it has now been possible to disguise damage that has affected the artwork over the years. Most notably, The Tale of Peter Rabbit restores six of Potter's original illustrations. Four were sacrificed in 1903 to make space for illustrated endpapers, and two have never been used before. Of course, Beatrix Potter created many memorable children's characters, including Benjamin Bunny, Tom Kitten, Jemima Puddle-duck and Jeremy Fisher. But whatever the tale, both children and adults alike can be delighted by the artistry in Potter's illustrations, while they also enjoy a very good read. Because they have always been completely true to a child's experience, Potter's 23 books continue to endure.
The colours and details of the watercolours in the volumes are reproduced more accurately than ever before, and it has now been possible to disguise damage that has affected the artwork over the years. Most notably, The Tale of Peter Rabbit restores six of Potter's original illustrations. Four were sacrificed in 1903 to make space for illustrated endpapers, and two have never been used before. Of course, Beatrix Potter created many memorable children's characters, including Benjamin Bunny, Tom Kitten, Jemima Puddle-duck and Jeremy Fisher. But whatever the tale, both children and adults alike can be delighted by the artistry in Potter's illustrations, while they also enjoy a very good read. Because they have always been completely true to a child's experience, Potter's 23 books continue to endure.
34 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1922
19 people are currently reading
609 people want to read
About the author
Beatrix Potter
3,360 books2,143 followersHelen Beatrix Potter was an English author, illustrator, mycologist, and conservationist who is best known for her children's books, which featured animal characters such as Peter Rabbit.
Born into a wealthy household, Potter was educated by governesses and grew up isolated from other children. She had numerous pets, and through holidays in Scotland and the Lake District, developed a love of landscape, flora, and fauna, all of which she closely observed and painted. Because she was a woman, her parents discouraged intellectual development, but her study and paintings of fungi led her to be widely respected in the field of mycology.
In her thirties, Potter published the highly successful children's book The Tale of Peter Rabbit and became secretly engaged to her publisher, Norman Warne, causing a breach with her parents, who disapproved of his social status. Warne died before the wedding.
Potter eventually published 24 children's books, the most recent being The Tale of Kitty-in-Boots (2016), and having become financially independent of her parents, was able to buy a farm in the Lake District, which she extended with other purchases over time.
In her forties, she married a local solicitor, William Heelis. She became a sheep breeder and farmer while continuing to write and illustrate children's books. Potter died in 1943 and left almost all of her property to The National Trust in order to preserve the beauty of the Lake District as she had known it, protecting it from developers.
Potter's books continue to sell well throughout the world, in multiple languages. Her stories have been retold in various formats, including a ballet, films, and in animation.
Born into a wealthy household, Potter was educated by governesses and grew up isolated from other children. She had numerous pets, and through holidays in Scotland and the Lake District, developed a love of landscape, flora, and fauna, all of which she closely observed and painted. Because she was a woman, her parents discouraged intellectual development, but her study and paintings of fungi led her to be widely respected in the field of mycology.
In her thirties, Potter published the highly successful children's book The Tale of Peter Rabbit and became secretly engaged to her publisher, Norman Warne, causing a breach with her parents, who disapproved of his social status. Warne died before the wedding.
Potter eventually published 24 children's books, the most recent being The Tale of Kitty-in-Boots (2016), and having become financially independent of her parents, was able to buy a farm in the Lake District, which she extended with other purchases over time.
In her forties, she married a local solicitor, William Heelis. She became a sheep breeder and farmer while continuing to write and illustrate children's books. Potter died in 1943 and left almost all of her property to The National Trust in order to preserve the beauty of the Lake District as she had known it, protecting it from developers.
Potter's books continue to sell well throughout the world, in multiple languages. Her stories have been retold in various formats, including a ballet, films, and in animation.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 97 reviews
September 7, 2018
What's in a Name?
As a child, this was my favourite Beatrix Potter. Back then, when no one had a PC, let alone printer, seeing my name in print was almost magical. Especially as it's not one that was ever included racks of personalised pens, t-shirts or mugs.
Maybe one day, I'll meet another person who shares my exact first name. Until then, it's this or The Importance of Being Earnest (see my review HERE), which, as an adult, I much prefer. Such wit!
As for this, with cynical adult eyes, although I love the illustrations, the words of the title rhyme are open to many interpretations, not all of them delightful:
The other rhymes include Potter originals as well as traditional ones, like Three Blind Mice, and Goosey Goosey Gander.
There's also this clever but poignant riddle:
If you can't figure it out, see the illustration HERE.
As a child, this was my favourite Beatrix Potter. Back then, when no one had a PC, let alone printer, seeing my name in print was almost magical. Especially as it's not one that was ever included racks of personalised pens, t-shirts or mugs.
Maybe one day, I'll meet another person who shares my exact first name. Until then, it's this or The Importance of Being Earnest (see my review HERE), which, as an adult, I much prefer. Such wit!
As for this, with cynical adult eyes, although I love the illustrations, the words of the title rhyme are open to many interpretations, not all of them delightful:
Cecily Parsley lived in a pen,
And brewed good ale for gentlemen;
Gentlemen came every day,
Till Cecily Parsley ran away.
The other rhymes include Potter originals as well as traditional ones, like Three Blind Mice, and Goosey Goosey Gander.
There's also this clever but poignant riddle:
Ninny nanny netticoat,
In a white petticoat,
With a red nose,
The longer she stands,
The shorter she grows.
If you can't figure it out, see the illustration HERE.
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May 15, 2019
Number 23 and I am done. Sadly the final two books in the Peter Rabbit Collection were a little dull: plain rhymes that were often just well-known nursery rhymes.
But fortunately, I now consider myself a Beatrix Potter fan. I was always led to believe that Beatrix's tales were twee and somewhat pathetic but I am happy to announce that that is definitely not the case. They are cute, yes, and sometimes a little twee of course (animals on their hindlegs in clothes cannot be anything but twee), but they are so much more.
They are the culmination of a women's life long love with nature and her wonderful imagination. She does not shy from the darker side of nature and believes everyone-including children-should know of this and embrace it, not ignore it. Sometimes this shocked me a little, but only because it came so out of the blue.
The main thing of course are the illustrations and one cannot deny that Beatrix is an accomplished watercolour artist and sketcher. Her tales would be almost nothing without them and that is no bad thing to say. She was an illustrator who wrote little stories to accompany her drawings and, although her longer stories were in my opinion so much better than the shorter ones, it is still the pictures that will forever be ingrained upon my memory. A dog in knickerbockers is no small thing to forget.
But fortunately, I now consider myself a Beatrix Potter fan. I was always led to believe that Beatrix's tales were twee and somewhat pathetic but I am happy to announce that that is definitely not the case. They are cute, yes, and sometimes a little twee of course (animals on their hindlegs in clothes cannot be anything but twee), but they are so much more.
They are the culmination of a women's life long love with nature and her wonderful imagination. She does not shy from the darker side of nature and believes everyone-including children-should know of this and embrace it, not ignore it. Sometimes this shocked me a little, but only because it came so out of the blue.
The main thing of course are the illustrations and one cannot deny that Beatrix is an accomplished watercolour artist and sketcher. Her tales would be almost nothing without them and that is no bad thing to say. She was an illustrator who wrote little stories to accompany her drawings and, although her longer stories were in my opinion so much better than the shorter ones, it is still the pictures that will forever be ingrained upon my memory. A dog in knickerbockers is no small thing to forget.
December 20, 2022
A short book of bits of, or occasionally whole, well-known nursery rhymes, as well as possibly some Beatrix Potter originals. It looks like a way to showcase her illustrations – which are magnificent. Might be a way of introducing children to some nursery rhymes, giving the them completed rhyme after the Cecily Parsley starter.
I am slightly alarmed about the first rhyme:
Or maybe I just have an adult’s suspicious mind, and have read too many crime/abuse novels.
I am slightly alarmed about the first rhyme:
“Cecily Parsley lived in a pen,
And brewed good ale for gentlemen;
Gentlemen came every day,
Till Cecily Parsley ran away”
Or maybe I just have an adult’s suspicious mind, and have read too many crime/abuse novels.
March 26, 2024
4 stars. What a cute little collection of nursery rhymes/poems... with such lovely illustrations! Beatrix Potter's books are the BEST for children!
A Favourite Beautiful Quote: “We have a little garden,
A garden of our own,
And every day we water there
The seeds that we have sown.
We love our little garden,
And tend it with such care,
You will not find a faded leaf
Or blighted blossom there.”
A Favourite Beautiful Quote: “We have a little garden,
A garden of our own,
And every day we water there
The seeds that we have sown.
We love our little garden,
And tend it with such care,
You will not find a faded leaf
Or blighted blossom there.”
February 20, 2020
full of whimsy and nonsense but the good kind
May 2, 2021
Another little book with silly rhymes. I love all the illustrations!
April 20, 2013
We have a little garden,
A garden of our own,
And every day we water there
The seeds that we have sown.
When the hummers start humming and the jays start squawking, and the woodies start pecking and the raptors start hawking, I take out my little book of Beatrix Potter verses because spring is in full blossom. The 1983 Ariel publication is my favorite because Allen Atkinson did the illustrations with such love, you believe the little baby bunnies on the cover really put on their jammies for bedtime storytelling. Atkinson left us too soon, and I rejoice when I find one of his books.
We love our little garden,
And tend it with such care,
You will not find a faded leaf
Or blighted blossom there.
Book Season = Spring (de-weed)
A garden of our own,
And every day we water there
The seeds that we have sown.
When the hummers start humming and the jays start squawking, and the woodies start pecking and the raptors start hawking, I take out my little book of Beatrix Potter verses because spring is in full blossom. The 1983 Ariel publication is my favorite because Allen Atkinson did the illustrations with such love, you believe the little baby bunnies on the cover really put on their jammies for bedtime storytelling. Atkinson left us too soon, and I rejoice when I find one of his books.
We love our little garden,
And tend it with such care,
You will not find a faded leaf
Or blighted blossom there.
Book Season = Spring (de-weed)
July 26, 2016
Very colorful and cute illustrations
August 4, 2019
Beatrix Potter paints magical pictures in her books. This one is lovely and beautifully presented.
July 30, 2017
This is another story on several nursery rhymes as the title implies. Beautiful art work with simple little rhymes. Both kids enjoyed this quick story.
December 24, 2025
no one say anything, I've got a challenge to FINISH
December 29, 2021
2.5/5
This was even shorter than I thought.
It's the last book of my collection of books by Beatrix Potter and I picked it up for a reading challenge even though I still have lots of the previous books to read. But they're all different stories so you can read them out of order.
It's just a collection of nursery rhymes without a story itself. It's cute cause it has illustrations as all the other books in this collection but it wasn't that interesting.
This was even shorter than I thought.
It's the last book of my collection of books by Beatrix Potter and I picked it up for a reading challenge even though I still have lots of the previous books to read. But they're all different stories so you can read them out of order.
It's just a collection of nursery rhymes without a story itself. It's cute cause it has illustrations as all the other books in this collection but it wasn't that interesting.
December 27, 2024
These rhymes were very dull ; plain rhymes that were often just well known nursery rhymes. And I just didn't get them, they didn't make a lot of sense.
January 11, 2025
Very short and very nice. But nothing special.
April 7, 2025
Funny enjoyable little rhymes with lovely illustrations to go with
June 4, 2018
This gets an automatic five stars for the inclusion of guinea pigs!
February 9, 2022
Coming to an end of the classic 23 tales of Beatrix Potter.
A happy read, and to know it all ends with whimsical nursery rhymes.
A happy read, and to know it all ends with whimsical nursery rhymes.
December 6, 2025
This was cute. I didn't understand some of the rhymes, but the artwork was so nostalgic. I liked the little riddle at the end!
August 13, 2014
Didn't seem as original as the first round of rhymes, all derivative. Also, uneven drawing style, some amazing, some too muddy. Also, why can't a Nursery Rhyme book have an overall arc? Just wondering...
October 31, 2021
This has a mixture of original nursery rhymes and traditional ones. The original ones don’t all rhyme properly and some don’t make a lot of sense, and the traditional ones have been re-worded slightly as though Beatrix Potter was attempting to make them her own, but it just doesn’t work.
May 20, 2016
With this one, now I've read everything written by Beatrix Potter, I think. I've been meaning to read her stories since I was a kid, and I'm glad I could do it, even if it was years later. ^^
March 6, 2020
poor formatting
I didn't really like it because there was no spacing between each rhyme and I was surprised by how brief it was.
I didn't really like it because there was no spacing between each rhyme and I was surprised by how brief it was.
February 18, 2026
A historical document.
Beatrix Potter published this collection in 1922, which is impressive until you learn that she wrote almost none of it. These are largely traditional nursery rhymes she grew up with, illustrated beautifully and published under her name. Today this would be called plagiarism. In 1922 it was called a book. It was a different time.
Cecily Parsley herself — a rabbit who brews ale for gentlemen, which is its own situation — is one of the few originals. Potter saw a rabbit and thought “barmaid.” We do not question this.
The rest of the collection is a fascinating artifact of linguistic evolution. These rhymes were written for children. They were cute. They were innocent. The words meant what they meant and everyone was fine.
They do not mean what they meant anymore.
Reading these aloud to a room of adults is essentially a personality test. Some people will hear a cheerful rhyme about a goose. Others will not be able to finish the sentence. Neither reaction is wrong exactly, but only one of them tells you something about where your mind has been.
The illustrations remain charming throughout, which somehow makes it worse.
Five stars. Beautifully illustrated. Aggressively of its time. Do not read aloud at a dinner party unless you know your audience very well.
Beatrix Potter published this collection in 1922, which is impressive until you learn that she wrote almost none of it. These are largely traditional nursery rhymes she grew up with, illustrated beautifully and published under her name. Today this would be called plagiarism. In 1922 it was called a book. It was a different time.
Cecily Parsley herself — a rabbit who brews ale for gentlemen, which is its own situation — is one of the few originals. Potter saw a rabbit and thought “barmaid.” We do not question this.
The rest of the collection is a fascinating artifact of linguistic evolution. These rhymes were written for children. They were cute. They were innocent. The words meant what they meant and everyone was fine.
They do not mean what they meant anymore.
Reading these aloud to a room of adults is essentially a personality test. Some people will hear a cheerful rhyme about a goose. Others will not be able to finish the sentence. Neither reaction is wrong exactly, but only one of them tells you something about where your mind has been.
The illustrations remain charming throughout, which somehow makes it worse.
Five stars. Beautifully illustrated. Aggressively of its time. Do not read aloud at a dinner party unless you know your audience very well.
January 17, 2025
Charming.
🖊 This very short picture book has delightful prose to round out its charm. It is worth it to read and share and revel in the sweetness of it all. Perfect book for children all the time; light, fun reading for grownups when the reality of the world is too heavy. I enjoyed the poems and especially the original, colorful illustrations.
📕Published in 1922.
🎨Illustrated.
જ⁀➴🟢The e-book version with the original, colorful illustrations can be found at Project Gutenberg.
જ⁀🟣 Kindle.
༺ ༅ ✬ ༅ ༻ ༺ ༅ ✬ ༅ ༻
My ratings for this work:
Plot: ★★★★☆
Content: ★★★★☆
Grammar: ★★★★★
Writing style: ★★★★★
Character(s): ★★★★★
Ease of reading: ★★★★★
My recommendation: ★★★★★
My total rating for this work: ★★★★★ (4.71)
December 31, 2023
We have a little garden,
A garden of our own,
And every day we water there
The seeds that we have sown.
Мені рими в цій збірочці сподобалися краще за Appley Dapply's Nursery Rhymes. Ілюстрації, як завше, неперевершені - хоча після Поттер такий стиль став дуже популярним, і можна знайти багато подібних робіт, з більшою кількістю деталей і краще кольорованих (особливо діджитал арту в наш час), проте її чари криються в легкій руці й простоті малюнку.
A garden of our own,
And every day we water there
The seeds that we have sown.
Мені рими в цій збірочці сподобалися краще за Appley Dapply's Nursery Rhymes. Ілюстрації, як завше, неперевершені - хоча після Поттер такий стиль став дуже популярним, і можна знайти багато подібних робіт, з більшою кількістю деталей і краще кольорованих (особливо діджитал арту в наш час), проте її чари криються в легкій руці й простоті малюнку.
Read
April 15, 2025A collection of old-fashioned nursery rhymes, complimented by Beatrix Potter's exquisite illustrations. Be forewarned, some of the rhymes in this volume may be considered subversive by today's standards, such as Cecily Parsley brewing ale for gentlemen, or Goosey Goosey Gander in my lady's chamber.
Did I like it? I thought the illustrations were delightful, but I can see why some of the old nursery rhymes have fallen out of favor.
Would I reread it? Probably no.
Would I recommend it? As an art object, yes. As something to read, not necessarily.
Did I like it? I thought the illustrations were delightful, but I can see why some of the old nursery rhymes have fallen out of favor.
Would I reread it? Probably no.
Would I recommend it? As an art object, yes. As something to read, not necessarily.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 26, 2025
Like the previous collection of rhymes, there isn't a single thread that ties these little tales together. But one thing is for sure: they're all accompanied by Beatrix Potter's tell-tale charming illustrations (this time there is a cat again!). Not my favourite of hers, but from reading her biographies I know she always wanted to write books of nursery rhymes, so at least she got to do what she wanted in her final few "officially" published books (a few more got released posthumously). 3.5 stars.
November 23, 2025
2.5 stars
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SUMMARY: (SPOILER WARNING)
A collection of small nursery rhymes -- some well-known and some I haven't heard of re-written by Beatrix Potter.
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REVIEW:
I don't love this because it's not all her original works. A lot of it is just re-writes of other famous nursery rhymes. So it was a little disappointing.
Of course her own illustrations are still adorable, though.
But overall it's very short and not completely original to Beatrix Potter.
-----------------------------------
-----------------------------------
SUMMARY: (SPOILER WARNING)
A collection of small nursery rhymes -- some well-known and some I haven't heard of re-written by Beatrix Potter.
-----------------------------------
-----------------------------------
REVIEW:
I don't love this because it's not all her original works. A lot of it is just re-writes of other famous nursery rhymes. So it was a little disappointing.
Of course her own illustrations are still adorable, though.
But overall it's very short and not completely original to Beatrix Potter.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 11, 2017
Cecily the rabbit lived in a pen where she brewed good ale for the gentlemen, until she ran away. The three blind mice got their tails cut off by the farmers wife. I thought this book was good because there were rhymes I've never even read myself! It is neat to go read older books for children. There were a lot of rhymes for kids in this book.
November 8, 2023
I must confess that I have never really enjoyed or even noticed the presence of rhymes in English, but I found it interesting when listening to an audio version along with amazing illustrations.
The last riddle is my favorite:)
In a white petticoat, With a red nose,— The longer she stands, The shorter she grows.
You should easily find the answer with the illustration.
The last riddle is my favorite:)
In a white petticoat, With a red nose,— The longer she stands, The shorter she grows.
You should easily find the answer with the illustration.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 97 reviews