Beatrix Potter 18661943, English author and illustrator. She published her first animal stories, The Tale of Peter Rabbit (1902) and The Tailor of Gloucester (1903), at her own expense before she found a publisher, Frederick Warne & Company. Over a period of 30 years, Warne published 23 of her books. Potter's stories, although fantasy, depict animals in an intelligent, unsentimental, and humorous manner. The books are enhanced by her delicate drawings and watercolor paintings. Now considered classics, Potter's stories are still popular and have been translated into several languages.