[Rarebooks] FS: Earliest Extant E. H. Shepard Drawings

[charles agvent]

One of 45 fine items from our list of Spring New Arrivals catalogued 
for the New York Book Fair.  All 45 can be seen at 
http://www.erols.com/agvent

SHEPARD, E. H. [ERNEST HOWARD]. TWO SKETCH BOOKS WITH ORIGINAL 
SKETCHES BY THE CREATOR OF WINNIE THE POOH WHEN HE WAS A TEENAGER. 
1895-1897. Two small canvas-covered sketchbooks with ties, full of 
pencil sketches and several pen-and-ink drawings by the teen-aged 
future illustrator of Winnie The Pooh. The larger book (7" x 4-7/8") 
has pencilled notes and calculations referring to a Cricket match and 
a note "Shepard, EH SketchingBook" in Shepard's hand on the front 
pastedown. Of the 48 pages, 42 have sketches ranging from rudimentary 
to detailed, some SIGNED or initialled by Shepard. Two of the sketches 
are detailed pen-and-ink depictions of soldiers at camp. Subjects 
include a self portrait, horses, camels, trains,churches, women, and 
bridges. The smaller book (7-1/4" x 3-1/2"), unsigned but obviously by 
Shepard, contains sketches of some of the same scenes as in the larger 
book on 35 of 48 pages--mainly of figures and country scenes including 
one of a churchyard at Wilmington dated 1895. Shepard would have been 
16 to 18 years old at the time of these sketches. Shepard began 
studying drawing at about this time and won a scholarship to the Royal 
Academy in 1897. He began selling his drawings to magazines in 1900 
and married a fellow student in 1904. His daughter Mary was born in 
1909. These sketchbooks were acquired from the estate of E. V. Knox, 
Mary's husband. Rare and extremely early examples of Shepard's work 
executed in a confident hand and showing great promise. We believe 
these to be the earliest drawings by Shepard ever offered for sale. 
Very Good and quite scarce.   $25,000

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CHARLES AGVENT
291 Linden Road
Mertztown, PA 19539-8750
610-682-4750; FAX: 610-682-4620
agvent at erols.com
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