Undated photograph of Potter (left), with her cousin, Alice Burton. Helen Beatrix Potter (July 28, 1866 - December 22, 1943) was an English author, illustrator, natural scientist and conservationist best known for her imaginative children's books featuring animals such as those in The Tale of Peter Rabbit. Her parents were artistic, interested in nature and enjoyed the countryside. She had private art lessons, and developed her own style. Along with her drawings of animals, real and imagined, she illustrated insects, fossils, archaeological artefacts, and fungi. She wrote and illustrated The Tale of Peter Rabbit in 1901. She published over 23 books; the best known are those written between 1902 and 1922. She in 1943 at age 77, leaving almost all her property to the National Trust.