The original map of Winnie-The-Pooh’s Hundred Acre Wood by artist EH Shepard has set a new record for any book illustration at auction, selling for £430,000 at Sotheby’s.
The sketch from 1926, unseen for nearly half a century, introduced readers to the world of Christopher Robin and his woodland friends in the original book.
It had been offered at the London sale with an estimate of £100,000-150,000 but surpassed the previous record sale price set in 2014 when an original ink drawing portraying AA Milne’s characters playing poohsticks sold for £314,500.
#AuctionRecord: The original drawing of Winnie-the-Pooh’s Hundred Acre Wood sells for £430,000 to set new record for any book illustration sold at auction. #SothebysBooks pic.twitter.com/ppHAIAp2qY
— Sotheby's (@Sothebys) July 10, 2018
The map also played a starring role in the Disney film, Winnie-The-Pooh And The Honey Tree, where it was animated as part of the movie’s opening sequence.
As well as capturing the book’s woodland world, the map also features much-loved characters including Eeyore, Winnie-The-Pooh and Christopher Robin.
Littered with misspelt locations, such as “nice for picnicks” and “100 aker wood”, the illustration is signed off with the words “Drawn by me and Mr Shepard helpd”.
It was first sold by Sotheby’s in 1968 for £650, before the auction house sold it again to a private collector two years later for £1,700.
Four other original Winnie-the-Pooh illustrations were also sold alongside the map and the five drawings sold for a combined total of £917,500 (estimate £310,000-440,000).
Among the sketches was a drawing of Christopher Robin and Pooh walking hand-in-hand to say their final goodbye in Milne’s book The House At Pooh Corner.
Estimated at £70,000-90,000, this drawing more than doubled its estimate to finally sell for £200,000.