‘The Tale of Benjamin Bunny’ is a children’s book written and illustrated by Beatrix Potter, and first published by Frederick Warne & Co. in September 1904. The book is a sequel to ‘The Tale of Peter Rabbit’ (1902), and tells of Peter’s return to Mr. Mc Gregor’s garden with his cousin Benjamin to retrieve the clothes he lost there during his previous adventure. In ‘Benjamin Bunny’, Potter deepened the rabbit universe she created in ‘Peter Rabbit’, and, in doing so, suggested the rabbit world was parallel to the human world but complete and sufficient unto itself.
‘Benjamin Bunny’ was an instant commercial and popular success, and thousands of copies were in print by the end of 1904. ‘The Times Literary Supplement’ thought Potter’s illustrations ‘pencil perfect’, but suggested that she engage a literary assistant for future productions. Potter created a nursery wallpaper tapping Benjamin’s image, and Benjamin returned as an adult rabbit in the ‘Flopsy Bunnies’ and ‘Mr. Tod’. In 1992, ‘Benjamin Bunny’ was adapted as an episode of the BBC animated television series, ‘The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends’.