Beatrix Potter's Naturalist Notes

"I used to write long-winded descriptions...in a kind of cipher shorthand which I am now unable to read even with a magnifying glass…"

I expected Beatrix Potter’s (1866-1943) notes would be delightful. But I had no idea just how whimsical they would be.

She invented a cipher to write her journal—a code so well-crafted that it took scholars over a decade to crack it. She studied mushrooms and referred to them as “fairy fungi.” She tried to sedate her pet rabbit with hemp seeds so she c…