Letters by Beatrix Potter go under the hammer

The letters were written in 1938 and 1939

Letters written by Peter Rabbit author Beatrix Potter are to go under the hammer in London.

In the two letters the writer, who took inspiration for her creations from the Lake District, laments at the demise of traditional trades like blacksmiths.

The letters, sent to a friend, also complain about children's spontaneity "being wiped out by teaching".

Written in 1938 and 1939, they are expected to fetch about £8,000 at auctioneers Bonhams on 23 November.

In the 1938 letter, Potter comments on the decline of the "old strong honestly made handcrafts".

'Observe with disgust'

She writes: "Labour-saving and laziness are nearly allied. It seems impossible to find apprentice blacksmiths now.

"There are still a few good wheelwrights left, but I observe with disgust the increasing use of rubber motor tyres on carts and wheel barrows.

"They offer some advantages, but no one can call them lovely on a farm horse-drawn cart."

She goes on to describe how she threw a child's drawing into the fire.

She wrote: "A shepherd's child about five years old showed me a remarkable crayon scribble of two lambs. Remarkable capering lambs kicking up the heels. I asked for another specimen.

"Now six months later she gives me a 'picture' done at school. Outline traced from an elaborate scene... little boy and girl, cottage etc, all carefully coloured and consigned to the fire by me.

"It's curious how graphic children can be, up to a certain age, and then they lose it, or it is wiped out by teaching."

Both letters were written to distinguished sculptor Josefina de Vasconcellos, who died in 2005.

They form part of an archive of papers being auctioned at Bonhams Printed Books, Maps and Manuscripts.