The 2018 edition – the rarest to look out for – shows the rabbit as he was painted by the author, happily biting into radishes in the garden of the curmudgeonly Mr McGregor. With the encouragement of her father, Potter went on to study at the National Art Training School in London (now the Royal College of Art). By the age of 14, she had started a journal, written in code, to record her thoughts, ideas and sketches and kept it up until the age of 30.

Both Hill Top and the Victoria and Albert Museum also have drawings by Beatrix Potter and the National Portrait Gallery have photographs taken by her father including portraits of Beatrix and her brother.

She struggled, for example, to have her scientific observations on fungi and lichens – which grew from making detailed drawings of them under the microscope – taken seriously by the authorities at Kew Gardens and was treated unfairly by the Linnean Society of London when submitting a scientific paper which went unpublished – at the time women were not admitted as members. At the age of 37, the year after The Tale of Peter Rabbit was published, Beatrix Potter applied for a British Museum library reader's ticket. The much-loved character Peter Rabbit, created by Beatrix Potter, has hopped his way on to a number of British 50p coins. Check out our free Grow with Peter Rabbit activities, and make sure you keep an eye on our social channels for even more gardening fun!

Potter had secured her first commercial publication marking the start of her career as an illustrator. These stories included the adventures of Peter's cousin, Benjamin Bunny, named after one of her pet rabbits, and the father to the Flopsy Bunnies. The Tale of Peter Rabbit’ was Beatrix Potter’s first tale and the coin features a well known illustration of Peter Rabbit hopping along. Although afforded greater opportunity and independence thanks to her social standing, Potter still had to overcome the male-dominated nature of Victorian society. The most common coins in circulation have a mintage in the tens or even hundreds of millions – the 1997 Britannia 50p, for example, was minted 456,364,100 times.Presented to the Museum by Beatrix Potter's executor in 1946, they illustrate the story of Peter Rabbit's sister, Flopsy and her family and how they narrowly escaped being eaten by Mr McGregor.