Courtesy Sotheby's

At Sotheby’s London, illustrations by E. H. Shepard include these original drawings depicting the often-muddled bear and friends.

December 2008 Datebook

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Among the 40 lots being offered are 20 original works by Shepard, who also illustrated Kenneth Grahame’s Wind in the Willows. “Shepard’s original illustrations rarely come on the market, just one or two every few years,” says Philip Errington, the house’s deputy director for English literature, children’s books and illustrations. Highlights include ink drawings, signed “EHS,” of Pooh and Piglet tracking through the snow and of Pooh sitting by a fire in front of his house, estimated at £40,000 to £60,000 ($70,000–105,000) each; Bump, bump, bump—going up the stairs, of Christopher Robin dragging Pooh (est. £50–70,000; $87,000–122,000); and a rare 1926 American first edition of the book, inscribed with a verse from the author to Shepard (est. £20–30,000; $35–52,000). A selection of the lots is on view in New York from December 3 through 6.

Citing the Beatrix Potter watercolor that soared to £289,250 ($577,000), five times its estimate, at Sotheby’s in July, Errington notes that it’s a “new age in the market.”  "Oh, Pooh!" originally appeared in the December 2008 issue of Art+Auction. For a complete list of articles from this issue available on ARTINFO, see Art+Auction's December 2008 Table of Contents.