peter pan in kensington gardens arthur rackham

“I think there was a love-hate relationship between Barrie and Hodgson,” said Brass.

If not claimed in a week, they are sent to Neverland, where Peter Pan is their captain. Barrie presumably knew how she felt, possibly helping to explain why the Darling children’s nanny in his book is a Newfoundland dog called Nana.īarrie’s “lost boys” are also the boys who fall out of their prams when the nurse is looking the other way. She was horrified by Barrie’s permissive, anything-goes attitude and felt he was undermining her authority. The encounters provided Barrie with inspiration for Peter Pan, who first appeared in his 1902 novel The Little White Bird followed by a play, Peter Pan, or the Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up in 1904 and then the Arthur Rackham-illustrated Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens in 1906.Īnother key character in the story is the father Arthur Llewellyn Davies who, understandably, thought Barrie’s attention to the children odd and his almost daily visits too much.Īt the heart of the remarkable story was Hodgson, who brought the children up. He was charmed by them and began regularly accompanying them through the park, telling them fantastic stories of fairies and pirates.īarrie developed a close friendship with the boys’ mother, Sylvia, and became a regular fixture at their home. It was 1897 when Barrie bumped into Hodgson as she walked in the park with the Llewellyn Davies children – George, Jack and baby Peter. Barrie met these boys in Kensington Gardens, he befriended them, he was the child who never grew up and he was writing about himself but using the boys as models.” Mary Hodgson had such an important role in the thought process behind Peter Pan.

The first edition book will feature at the Olympia book fair in London.

Peter pan in kensington gardens arthur rackham