{"id":53602,"date":"2025-01-28T16:43:57","date_gmt":"2025-01-28T16:43:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/aerospace\/man-finds-rare-trove-of-winnie-the-pooh-drawings-and-manuscripts-in-his-fathers-attic\/"},"modified":"2025-01-28T16:43:57","modified_gmt":"2025-01-28T16:43:57","slug":"man-finds-rare-trove-of-winnie-the-pooh-drawings-and-manuscripts-in-his-fathers-attic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=53602","title":{"rendered":"Man Finds Rare Trove of Winnie-the-Pooh Drawings and Manuscripts in His Father’s Attic"},"content":{"rendered":"


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A recently discovered trove of Winnie-the-Pooh materials found new homes in the United States and the United Kingdom after selling at auction.
\n Fieldings Auctioneers<\/span>
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Simon Smith was cleaning out his late father\u2019s attic when he stumbled upon a plastic bag full of papers. When he looked inside, he was shocked to find letters, drawings and manuscripts that had once belonged to author A.A. Milne<\/a>, the creator of Winnie-the-Pooh.<\/p>\n

Now, after \u201c[capturing the imagination of the publishing world,\u201d the rare documents have found new homes in the United States and the United Kingdom, says Will Farmer, director of Fieldings Auctioneers, to\u00a0BBC News<\/a>\u2019 Shehnaz Khan and Elliott Webb. They sold for \u00a395,000 (more than $118,000) at a\u00a0Fieldings Auctioneers\u2019 sale<\/a> earlier this month.<\/p>\n

The papers were discovered among the belongings of Leslie Smith, who had worked in publishing and lived in Malvern, a town in Worcestershire, England. After he died in November 2023, his son was sorting through his possessions when he found the unexpected treasure trove.<\/p>\n

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Among his father\u2019s documents, Simon Smith found original Winnie-the-Pooh manuscripts and drawings, including original sketches for The Christopher Robin Birthday Book<\/em>. The collection also included first drafts of Milne\u2019s poem \u201cWind on the Hill<\/a>,\u201d as well as corrected proofs of Now We Are Six<\/em> and The House at Pooh Corner<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Simon Smith also discovered previously unseen correspondence between Milne, illustrator E.H. Shepherd<\/a> and publisher Frederick Muller. In one letter<\/a>, dated March 28, 1928, Milne defends his honey-loving bear, writing: \u201cBy the way, Pooh protests strongly against being called a \u2018fabulous monster\u2019 in today\u2019s Observer<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

In others, Milne expresses frustration<\/a> with Shephard\u2019s illustrations. \u201c[He] must do new drawings for April and September as the originals are very poor,\u201d Milne wrote.<\/p>\n

Simon Smith also found correspondence from English children\u2019s author Enid Blyton, as well as postcards to his father from J.R.R. Tolkien, the author of The Lord of the Rings<\/em>.<\/p>\n

How did the papers end up in Leslie Smith\u2019s hands? He had founded a publishing company called Cressrelles, which then took over the publishing company run by Muller\u2019s family, reports the\u00a0Guardian<\/em><\/a>\u2019s Yassin El-Moudden.<\/p>\n

Simon Smith was \u201cgobsmacked\u201d by the discovery, but he didn\u2019t think it made sense for the family to keep the papers, as he told\u00a0BBC News<\/a>\u2019 Gavin Kermack and Webb ahead of the auction.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThere\u2019s four of us [children] and plenty of grandchildren and lots of great-grandchildren, so where would they go in the family?\u201d he added. \u201cWe would like to see them somewhere useful.\u201d<\/p>\n

He brought the archive to the team at Fieldings Auctioneers, who worked with Clive Farahar of the BBC\u2019s \u201cAntiques Roadshow\u201d to come up with starting prices for the papers, per the Independent<\/em><\/a>\u2019s Shahana Yasmin. They were split into 34 lots for the auction.<\/p>\n

Born in London in 1882, Milne was a prolific humorist, editor, essayist and playwright. After serving in World War I, he moved his family\u00a0to a farm<\/a> in the English countryside. There, Milne and his son, Christopher Robin, began exploring the nearby forest\u2014often accompanied by Christopher Robin\u2019s favorite stuffed animals.<\/p>\n

Around the same time, the father-son duo visited the London Zoo and spotted a black bear named Winnie. Christopher Robin renamed his stuffed bear in the animal\u2019s honor\u2014and the rest is history. Milne\u2019s first Winnie-the-Pooh tale was published in December 1925 in the London Evening News<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The books\u2014and as well as the movies, TV shows and merchandise that followed\u2014remain popular a century later. They \u201cwill always have a special place in British literary lore,\u201d as Patrick Sauer wrote for\u00a0Smithsonian <\/em>magazine<\/a> in 2017.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cPublished following the brutality of World War I, they provided a much-needed solace in a time of great sadness, a connection to the innate wonder of childhood and a specifically British sensibility.\u201d<\/p>\n

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