An early sketch of lovable Winnie the Pooh by children's illustrator E.H. Shepard is expected to fetch over $30,000 at an auction held by Bonhams. The large oval pencil drawing shows Pooh reaching his paw into a honey pot, while Tigger and Piglet sit around a kitchen table. It is an enlarged and expanded version of the illustration "Tiggers don't like honey" used in The House at Pooh Corner. A Bonham's book specialist explained the magic of A.A. Milne's Pooh characters to BBC News.
Bonhams' book specialist Luke Batterham told BBC News the Pooh stories are timeless because they are not "laden with morality like many childrens' tales".
He said: "The illustrations are essential. Visually, that's what is kept in people's imaginations.
"The images are constantly in the public's mind because of all the spin-offs, but you can't beat the original drawings."
He added that the original books have "outlived" and "defeated" the Disney versions of the story.
The E.H. Shepard collection being auction also includes a first sketch for Wind in the Willows.
