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, shows an area of Ashdown Forest close to Friar’s Gate – which is known as 500 Acre Wood. It introduced readers to the world of Christopher Robin and his woodland friends in the original book by A A Milne.
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 Milne’s characters playing poohsticks sold for £314,500.
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.
It was first sold by Sotheby’s in 1968 for £650 and then two years later for £1,700.
