The Tailor of Gloucester

Infobox Book |
name = The Tailor of Gloucester
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption = First edition hardcover
author = Beatrix Potter
illustrator = Beatrix Potter
cover_artist =
country = United Kingdom
language = English
series =
genre = Children's novel
publisher = Frederick Warne & Co
release_date = 1903
english_release_date =
media_type = Print (Hardback)
pages =
isbn = NA
oclc = 884366
preceded_by = The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin
followed_by = The Tale of Benjamin Bunny

"The Tailor of Gloucester" is a children's novel by Beatrix Potter that was first published in October 1903. [cite web |url=http://www.tailor-of-gloucester.org.uk/beatrix_potter_gloucester.html |title=Beatrix Potter's Gloucester |accessdate=2007-08-21 ] It is traditionally read to children on Christmas eve, just before bed time. [cite web |url=http://www.tailor-of-gloucester.org.uk/tailor_of_gloucester.html |title=The Tailor of Gloucester |accessdate=2007-08-21 ]

Origins

The story tells of a tailor who falls ill and is unable to complete an important commission. When he returns to his shop, however, it is to find the waistcoat completed, apart from a button-hole because there is "no more twist". The work has been done by mice who are grateful because the tailor rescued them from his cat.

Potter had heard of this story while visiting a cousin, Caroline Hutton, though in fact the work had been secretly done by the tailor's very human assistants. ["The Complete Tales of Beatrix Potter", published by F. Warne & Co., 1989]

ynopsis

This book tells the story of a poor tailor, his cat, and the mice that live in his shop. He has many scraps of cloth and ribbons left over that are too small for any practical use. The mice take these and make fine clothes for themselves.

The tailor sends his cat Simpkin to buy food and a twist of cherry-coloured silk for a coat the mayor has commissioned for his wedding, which will take place on Christmas morning.

While the cat is gone, he frees the mice from teacups where Simpkin has imprisoned them. When Simpkin returns and finds his mice gone, he hides the twist in anger.

When the tailor falls ill, the mice save the day by completing the coat. (One buttonhole remains incomplete because the mice run out of twist).

The picturesque building the story is set in is, externally at least, virtually unchanged from Beatrix Potter's time. It currently sells Beatrix Potter memorabilia and is based in Gloucester.

Adaptations

In #1988, Rabbit Ears Productions, (Now Rabbit Ears Entertainment), produced a storyteller version. It featured narration by Meryl Streep, drawings by David Jorgensen and music by The Chieftains.

A motion picture version of the novel was released in 1989 on national television featuring Ian Holm and Jude Law.

An animated adaptation of the story was featured on "The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends" in 1993.

The house in Gloucester, near the cathedral wall, that was the model for the illustrations of the tailor's shop is now the Beatrix Potter Museum.

References

External links

* [http://www.archive.org/details/tailorofgloucest00pottuoft "The Tailor of Gloucester"] at Internet Archive. London: Frederick Warne & Co,. 1903. Scanned book, illustrated.
*gutenberg|no=14868|name=The Tailor of Gloucester
*imdb title|id=0331668|title=The Tailor of Gloucester