Editing Peter Rabbit (section)

== Background ==
The rabbits in Potter's stories are [[Anthropomorphism|anthropomorphic]] and wear human clothes: Peter wears a blue jacket with brass buttons and shoes. Peter, his widowed mother, Mrs. Rabbit, as well as his younger sisters, Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cottontail (with Peter the eldest of the four little rabbits) live in a rabbit hole that has a human kitchen, human furniture, as well as a shop where Mrs. Rabbit sells various items. Peter's relatives are his cousin [[Benjamin Bunny]] and Benjamin's father, Mr. Benjamin Bouncer.

Peter Rabbit was named after a pet rabbit whom Beatrix Potter had as a child, and whom she called Peter Piper.<ref name="V&A"/> The first Peter Rabbit story, ''[[The Tale of Peter Rabbit]]'', was created in 1893 initially as a letter to Noel Moore, the five-year-old son of Potter's former governess, Annie Moore.<ref name="V&A"/> The boy was ill, and Potter wrote him a picture and story letter to help him pass the time and to cheer him up. The letter included sketches illustrating the narrative.<ref name="V&A">{{cite news |title=Peter Rabbit: the tale of 'The Tale' |url=https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/peter-rabbit-the-tale-of-the-tale |access-date=10 May 2023 |agency=V&A}}</ref>

In June 1903, a trade edition of the tale was published by [[Frederick Warne & Co.|Frederick Warne & Co]], and by the end of the year, 28,000 copies were in print. Over the years, ''The Tale of Peter Rabbit'' has sold more than 40 million copies worldwide, and as of 2008, the Peter Rabbit series of six books has sold more than 150 million copies in 35 languages.<ref name="BBC"/><ref>{{cite web | title= Peter Rabbit | url= http://www.unitedmedialicensing.com/b2b/html/peter_rabbit.html | publisher=United Media Licensing | access-date=23 June 2006 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060324113634/http://www.unitedmedialicensing.com/b2b/html/peter_rabbit.html |archive-date = 24 March 2006}}</ref>

<gallery mode="packed" caption="''The Tale of Peter Rabbit''—initial history as a letter to Noel Moore">
File:The Tale of Peter Rabbit - letter to Noel Moore part 1.jpg
File:The Tale of Peter Rabbit - letter to Noel Moore part 2.jpg
File:The Tale of Peter Rabbit - letter to Noel Moore part 3.jpg
File:The Tale of Peter Rabbit - letter to Noel Moore part 4.jpg
</gallery>