Man finds rare series Winnie-the-Pooh drawings and manuscripts in the attic of his father

Simon Smith was cleaning up the attic of his deceased father when he met a plastic bag full of paper. When he looked inside, he was shocked to find letters, drawings and manuscripts that had once belonged to the author AA MilneThe maker of Winnie-the-Pooh.

Now, after “[capturing the imagination of the publishing world,” the rare documents have found new homes in the United States and the United Kingdom, says Will Farmer, director of Fieldings Auctioneers, to BBC News’ Shehnaz Khan and Elliott Webb. They sold for £95,000 (more than $118,000) at a Fieldings Auctioneers’ sale earlier this month.

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.

Among his father’s documents, Simon Smith found original Winnie-the-Pooh manuscripts and drawings, including original sketches for The Christopher Robin Birthday Book. The collection also included first drafts of Milne’s poem “Wind on the Hill,” as well as corrected proofs of Now We Are Six and The House at Pooh Corner.

Simon Smith also discovered previously unseen correspondence between Milne, illustrator E.H. Shepherd and publisher Frederick Muller. In one letter, dated March 28, 1928, Milne defends his honey-loving bear, writing: “By the way, Pooh protests strongly against being called a ‘fabulous monster’ in today’s Observer.”

In others, Milne expresses frustration with Shephard’s illustrations. “[He] Must do new drawings for April and September, because the originals are very bad, “wrote Milne.

Simon Smith also found correspondence of the English children’s author Enid Blyton, as well as postcards for his father of JRR Tolkien, the author of Mr. van de Rings.

How did the papers end up in the hands of Leslie Smith? He had set up a publishing house called Cressrelles, who then took over the publishing house of Muller’s Family, reports the Guardian‘s Yassin El-Moud.

Simon Smith was “Gobsmacked” through the discovery, but he didn’t find it logical for the family to save the papers, as he said BBC News‘Gavin Kermack and Webb prior to the auction.

‘There are four of us [children] And many grandchildren and many great -grandchildren, so where would they go in the family? “He added.” We would like to see them somewhere useful. “

He brought the archive to the team at Fieldings Auctioners, who collaborated with Clive Farahar of the “Antiques Roadshow” of the BBC to think of the starting prices for the papers, according to the Independent‘s Shahanhana Yasmin. They were split into 34 lots for the auction.

Milne was born in London in 1882 and was a productive humorist, editor, essayist and playwright. After serving in the First World War, he moved his family to a farm in the English countryside. There Milne and his son, Christopher Robin, started exploring the nearby forest – often accompanied by the favorite hugs of Christopher Robin.

Around the same time the father-son Duo visited the London Zoo and saw a black bear called Winnie. Christopher Robin renamed his filled bear in honor of the animal – and the rest is history. Milne’s first Winnie-the-Pooh Tale was published in December 1925 in the London Evening News.

The books – and the films, TV shows and merchandise that followed – remind popular a century later. They “will always have a special place in the British literary tradition”, as Patrick Sauer wrote Smithsonian Magazine in 2017.

He added: “Published after the brutality of the First World War, they provided much needed comfort in a time of great sorrow, a connection with the innate miracle of childhood and a specific British sensitivity.”

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