MILNE, A. A.; SHEPARD, Ernest H. (illus.).

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Original artwork for Winnie-the-Pooh: "For some time now Pooh had been saying 'Yes' and 'No' in turn, with his eyes shut, to all that Owl was saying". An original preliminary drawing in colour. This is a redrawn version of the illustration which appeared on page 49 of Winnie-the-Pooh (first published in 1926) and was presumably a preparatory drawing for The World of Pooh, an omnibus edition of Pooh stories, first published in 1957. Original artwork by Shepard for Milne's books is highly prized, especially drawings featuring Winnie-the-Pooh.The two Pooh books, Winnie-the-Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner, were first published by Methuen in 1926 and 1928, with Shepard's exquisite drawings printed in black and white. The books continued to sell throughout the subsequent decades but by the late 1950s they were beginning to look "rather dowdy". Frank Herrmann was recruited to the publishing firm and was asked to modernize the "famous backlist of children's books" (Thwaite, p. 175)The original artist, E. H. Shepard, was then in his late 70s but eager to work and Herrmann started "a long friendship and very happy working relationship" with him. It was decided to issue Winnie-the-Pooh together with The House at Pooh Corner in a single volume to be called The World of Pooh. The new volume was first published in 1957. The original black and white drawings remained, but Shepard contributed eight pages of new colour plates to the volume (four for Winnie-the-Pooh and four for The House at

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