Last ever drawing of Winnie The Pooh by E.H. Shepard found wrapped in a tea towel
The 'last ever' drawing of Winnie-the-Pooh by his illustrator E.H. Shepard has been found - wrapped in a tea towel.
The 'grubby framed' sketch of Pooh and Piglet was discovered in the cellar of Christopher Foyle - former chairman of Foyles bookshops.
It is dated 1958 and signed E.H. Shepard - the artist who drew the
illustrations for A. A. Milne's 1926 book Winnie-the-Pooh.
The original drawings have sold for hundreds of thousands of pounds - but now what could be his last ever Pooh sketch is on sale.
It was discovered wrapped in a tea towel in a cellar drawer and forms part of a sale of more than 10,000 books and other items from late Christopher's library.
Auctioneers say it could be the last sketch of Pooh that Shepard did - possibly at an annual event known as Foyles Literary Lunches.
Created by Christina Foyle - daughter of Foyles founder William - the first lunch was held in 1930 in response to customers’ demand to meet famous authors.
The drawing was found by Christopher's widow, Cathy Foyle, and bookseller Matthew Butler.
Chris Albury, of Dominic Winter Auctioneers, says Shepard, then 79, may have done the sketch for one of the events.
He said: ''This drawing was recently discovered in the library and effects of the Late Christopher Foyle of Beeleigh Abbey, near Maldon in Essex.
“Rather than proudly on display on a wall, it was in a cheap frame with tape across the glass and wrapped in an old tea towel at the back of a cellar drawer.
“We see reproductions of this famous drawing from time to time which have no value so I was shocked to see that this was unmistakably an original, even through the dusty, taped glass.
''It’s not in the same league as the original drawing made for the book in the 1920s but it is identical and the only other one of the same illustration to have apparently come on the market so we are confident that £20,000-30,000 will be an attractive estimate.
“My theory is that this drawing was done by Shepard in connection with one of Christina’s famous Foyles Literary Lunches, which ran for decades.
''Presumably, it was never appreciated greatly by her or Christopher and it is only in the last 20 to 30 years that it will have gained hugely in value.
“It’s a fantastically poignant image that means so much to so many adults and children nearly a century after first publication.
''It captures the moment just before Pooh and Piglet turn back into ordinary toys, and will prove a very popular lot to collectors who continue to cherish the World of Pooh.”
The items from the library will go under the hammer Dominic Winter Auctioneers on Wednesday September 27 2023 and January 31, 2024.
The Pooh sketch is listed as:
''Shepard (Ernest Howard, 1879-1976). Pooh and Piglet walked home thoughtfully together in the golden evening, and for a long time they were silent.
'''Original pen and india ink drawing with traces of pencil, on thin white card, signed and dated, ‘E.H. Shepard 1958’ lower right, sheet size 97
The 'grubby framed' sketch of Pooh and Piglet was discovered in the cellar of Christopher Foyle - former chairman of Foyles bookshops.
It is dated 1958 and signed E.H. Shepard - the artist who drew the
illustrations for A. A. Milne's 1926 book Winnie-the-Pooh.
The original drawings have sold for hundreds of thousands of pounds - but now what could be his last ever Pooh sketch is on sale.
It was discovered wrapped in a tea towel in a cellar drawer and forms part of a sale of more than 10,000 books and other items from late Christopher's library.
Auctioneers say it could be the last sketch of Pooh that Shepard did - possibly at an annual event known as Foyles Literary Lunches.
Created by Christina Foyle - daughter of Foyles founder William - the first lunch was held in 1930 in response to customers’ demand to meet famous authors.
The drawing was found by Christopher's widow, Cathy Foyle, and bookseller Matthew Butler.
Chris Albury, of Dominic Winter Auctioneers, says Shepard, then 79, may have done the sketch for one of the events.
He said: ''This drawing was recently discovered in the library and effects of the Late Christopher Foyle of Beeleigh Abbey, near Maldon in Essex.
“Rather than proudly on display on a wall, it was in a cheap frame with tape across the glass and wrapped in an old tea towel at the back of a cellar drawer.
“We see reproductions of this famous drawing from time to time which have no value so I was shocked to see that this was unmistakably an original, even through the dusty, taped glass.
''It’s not in the same league as the original drawing made for the book in the 1920s but it is identical and the only other one of the same illustration to have apparently come on the market so we are confident that £20,000-30,000 will be an attractive estimate.
“My theory is that this drawing was done by Shepard in connection with one of Christina’s famous Foyles Literary Lunches, which ran for decades.
''Presumably, it was never appreciated greatly by her or Christopher and it is only in the last 20 to 30 years that it will have gained hugely in value.
“It’s a fantastically poignant image that means so much to so many adults and children nearly a century after first publication.
''It captures the moment just before Pooh and Piglet turn back into ordinary toys, and will prove a very popular lot to collectors who continue to cherish the World of Pooh.”
The items from the library will go under the hammer Dominic Winter Auctioneers on Wednesday September 27 2023 and January 31, 2024.
The Pooh sketch is listed as:
''Shepard (Ernest Howard, 1879-1976). Pooh and Piglet walked home thoughtfully together in the golden evening, and for a long time they were silent.
'''Original pen and india ink drawing with traces of pencil, on thin white card, signed and dated, ‘E.H. Shepard 1958’ lower right, sheet size 97
Transcript
00:00 I'm Chris Albury, I'm an auctioneer and senior valuer with Dominic Winter
00:06 Auctioneers in South Surney, Gloucestershire. What we have here is an
00:10 original pen and ink drawing of Winnie the Pooh and piglets by Ernest H
00:16 Shepard. This was actually drawn in 1958. The original one which was used in the
00:21 book was sold last year in December for $220,000. We think this is rather
00:29 special and the only other one you might find to buy anywhere and we reckon
00:34 twenty to thirty thousand pounds. This was found in an old tea towel in a
00:41 cellar drawer in a very fabulous house called Beely Abbey, a 12th century Abbey
00:48 near Maldon in Essex, the family home of the Foyle family. William Foyle, the
00:54 founders library, was sold by Christie's in 2001 for some 12 million pounds and
01:01 this really is a continuation of that sale in that it belongs to Christopher
01:07 Foyle, William's grandson, which includes many of the books that weren't sold by
01:12 Christie's but for whatever reason this little treasure was in dusty cellar
01:19 taped frame in an old tea towel in a cellar drawer. My hunch about this
01:26 illustration which is, as we see, dated 1958 by Shepard is that it may have been
01:33 done at the time of one of Christina Foyle's literary lunches that Foyle's
01:39 used to run from the 1930s into the early 2000s and were a famous literary
01:45 lunch where authors and other guest speakers would come and talk. Bertrand
01:50 Russell, John Lennon, everyone turned up and paying guests would raise money and
01:56 I wouldn't be surprised if Shepard drew this on one such occasion when he was
02:01 the invited party and perhaps Christina didn't think much of it and just chucked
02:07 it in the back of a drawer and it got forgotten.