In 1901 , a friend of Potter 's family , Canon Hardwicke Rawnsley , changed Potter 's story into a poem and tried giving his version , together with her illustrations and some of her corrected writing , to Frederick Warne & Co. . In 1901 , as Lear explains , a Potter family friend and sometime poet , Canon Hardwicke Rawnsley , set Potter 's tale into `` rather dreadful didactic verse and submitted it , along with Potter 's illustrations and half her revised manuscript , to Frederick Warne & Co. , '' which had been among the original rejecters .