OVER 100 original book illustrations collected by film director Michael Winner will be offered at Sotheby’s in London on December 12. E.H. Shepard’s first depiction of Winnie-the-Pooh with Christopher Robin from A.A. Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh (Methuen, 1926), is included along with illustrations by Edmund Dulac, Kay Nielsen, Beatrix Potter, Arthur Rackham, William Heath Robinson and John Tenniel. Shepard’s illustrations were central to the success of A.A. Milne’s tales. Works by the artist, who also drew the celebrated illustrations for Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in The Willows (1931), are now held in collections at the Victoria and Albert Museum, and the Bodleian Library, Oxford. The sale of over 150 lots of illustration and books is expected to make more than £1 million.
Michael Winner recalled how he became a collector thus: “It was many years ago that I went into an old bookshop in the Charing Cross Road; there I saw two paintings by Arthur Rackham which I found utterly memorable. They had a quality which was unique. From then on I became a collector: I was hooked. I retained an interest that has followed me through my life, keeping the fascination with all things illustrated: works by Arthur Rackham, Edmund Dulac, Kay Nielson, Mabel Lucie Attwell and many others. There were no aspects of my collection that I did not appreciate, whether it was the deep blue colours of Dulac or the childlike simplicity of Attwell. They all fascinated me, and above all were a great source of fun that always amused me.” (Click on any image to enlarge it).
UPDATE: THE SALE BROUGHT IN £1,127,296.
E.H. SHEPARD – “Here is Edward Bear, coming downstairs now, bump, bump, bump, on the back of his head, behind Christopher Robin.” (£70,000 -100,000). UPDATE: THIS MADE £139,250
Beatrix Potter – A Gentleman Rabbit (£30,000-50,000). UPDATE: THIS MADE £70,850
Kay Nielsen, Hansel & Gretel and other stories by the Brothers Grimm (Hodder and Stoughton, 1925). (£20,000-30,000). UPDATE: THIS MADE £49,250
