New Winnie the Pooh Sketches to Sell at Auction

Should the robot apocalypse ever come, I believe I have stumbled upon a sure-fire solution for distinguishing humans from their cyborg doppelgangers: read some quotes out loud from Winnie the Pooh.

If in five minutes your listener hasn’t started sniffling and tearing up, you may be assured that you are talking to a robot. And if you aren’t sniffling yourself…perhaps it’s time for an oil change?

A.A. Milne, creator of Winnie the Pooh, Piglet, and all of the loveable inhabitants of the One Hundred Acre Wood, was born Alan Alexander Milne on this day in 1882. Though Milne was an accomplished novelist and playwright, he is best remembered for the children’s stories he wrote for his son Christopher.

But, while the text of Milne’s work is certainly important (I get misty-eyed every time Piglet says, “I just wanted to be sure of you”), the illustrations were equally integral in forming our views of the silly old bear. Illustrator Ernest H. Shepard was Milne’s colleague at British magazine “Punch,” and it was Shepard who provided all of the illustrations for Milne’s original stories.

There’s little resemblance between Shepard’s Pooh and the red-shirted Disney version of the same character, though both versions of Piglet maintain the character’s striped torso. There is a quiet, thoughtful charm to Shepard’s version that forever set the tone for the whimsical world of Milne’s Pooh Corner, one that is missing from Disney’s mass produced images (and don’t start the Milne purists on the Disney versions, whatever you do; words like “tacky” and “abomination” get tossed about like autumn leaves on a very blustery day).

For many years it was thought that all of Shepard’s sketches of Winnie the Pooh and company had been archived by the Shepard family estate, however a new sketch was recently unearthed in England. Done in 1954, the sketch was intended as a thank-you note to actor Peter Bromilow and features heretofore unknown images of Pooh and Piglet. The sketch, done in pen and ink, will go on the auction block at the National Fine Art and Antiques Fair in just a few days and is expected to fetch upwards of £20,000 (roughly $30,818 in US Dollars).

Both Milne and Shepard are reported to have had conflicted relationships with their creations later in their respective lives. Both men believed that in their Winnie-the-Pooh creations in some way hindered them creatively, and negated the rest of their artistic achievements. However, those creations that theoretically hindered them also means that their names will never be forgotten. Those who hear the names of A.A. Milne and Ernest Shepard will be immediately transported to a kinder, gentler place that celebrates love, friendship, honesty and loyalty. In the grand scheme of things, that’s not a bad legacy to leave.

Do tell, Pencilheads – do you have a favorite Winnie-the-Pooh quote or story? Have anything to add on the Milne vs. Disney debate? Fancy a game of Poohsticks? Join us in the Hundred Acre Comment section below!

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