Again this text is taken from the biography "The Tale of Beatrix Potter" by Margaret Lane.
"The Tale of Two Bad Mice was planned out between them (Beatrix and Norman Warne) in the highest spirits; a flaxen-haired doll and 'a doll dressed like a policeman' were borrowed from the Warne children, and Norman Warne undertook to find a Dutch doll for hte cook, and doll's house food, and other useful properties. 'Thank you so much for the queer little dollies,' Miss Potter wrote from Bolton Gardens, 'they are just exactly what I wanted, and a curiosity, coming from Seven Dials...I will provide a print dress and a smile for Jane; her little stumpy feet are so funny. I think I shall make a dear little book of it, I shall be glad to get done with rabbits...I shall be very glad of the little stove and ham; the work is always a very great pleasure anyhow.' "
"In a few days' time a box of doll's-house food had arrived from Hamleys. 'I received the parcel from Hamleys' this morning; the things will all do beautifully; the ham's appearance is enough to cause indigestion. I am getting almost more treasures thank I can squeeze into one small book.' "
"But the charm of the doll's-house food and furniture was irresistable. 'The little dishes are so pretty I am wondering if I have made enough of them? Shall I squeeze in another dish? Iregret the roast dick being left out!...I have bought a gilt bookcase for 8 1/2 d.; I wonder what is the colour of the Enc. Britannica, the advertisements don't say; it might be one of the things that would not go into the mousehole.' (And indeed, it is , as you will see if you look in the picture.)"
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