An original illustration of Winnie-the-Pooh and his best friend Christopher Robin by artist Ernest Shepard is selling for $35,000.
Currently available for purchase on Wonderful World of Animation -- a site that specializes in rare, vintage art, particularly from Disney -- the original artwork shows Pooh being "knighted" by Christopher Robin, who uses a long stick to mimic a sword. Shepard originally illustrated the image for "In Which Christopher Robin and Pooh Come to an Enchanted Place, and We Leave Them There," the final chapter of The House at Pooh Corner, the second book of Winnie-the-Pooh short stories written by A. A. Milne.
Throughout the book, Christopher Robin slowly prepares to grow up, attend boarding school and leave his childhood friends in the Hundred Acre Wood behind. The final chapter depicts him playing with Pooh one last time and telling his silly old bear about knights. After Pooh asks if he could be a knight, Christopher Robin dubs him "Sir Pooh de Bear." The chapter ends with the pair going off together and the poignant words, "But wherever they go, and whatever happens to them on the way, in that enchanted place on the top of the Forest a little boy and his Bear will always be playing."
A Brief History Of Pooh And Ernest Shepard
Winnie-the-Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner were respectively written in 1926 and 1928 by Milne, who based the character of Christopher Robin on his son of the same name. Milne was inspired by his son's stuffed toys when he created Pooh, Piglet, Tigger and the other animals featured in the books, and Shepard's illustrations cemented them in the minds of a generation of readers.
Milne's version of Pooh entered the public domain in 2022. Disney acquired the rights to the Pooh characters in 1961, and their rendition of Winnie-the-Pooh, featuring the bear wearing a red shirt, is still protected by copyright. Shepard had only drawn Pooh with a shirt during a few instances, notably on an RCA Victor record that served as the inspiration for the look that Disney would popularize worldwide. Aside from the Pooh books, Ernest Shepard also illustrated Milne's 1924 poetry collection When We Were Very Young and was a lead political cartoonist for the British satire magazine Punch.
Source: Wonderful World of Animation