CNN
—
The original drawing of the map that appears inside the cover of A.A. Milne’s beloved book “Winnie-the-Pooh” sold at a Sotheby’s auction for nearly $600,000 – a record for any book illustration.
The Hundred Acre Wood map is the work of E.H. Shepard, who was asked to illustrate the book in 1926. Sotheby’s valued the map between $130,000 and nearly $200,000 (or between £100,000 and £150,000), according to a news release from May announcing the sale.
The auction house described the drawing, which was unseen for 50 years, as “possibly the most famous map in children’s literature.”
The map appears on the inside cover of the original book, setting the tone for what young readers will encounter: the adventures of a teddy bear named Winnie-the-Pooh and his friends.
The map was supposed to have been drawn by young boy Christopher Robin, one of the main characters in the book and one of Pooh’s best friends. The map says “Drawn by me and Mr. Shepard helped” at the bottom and has a few misspellings such as “aker” and “piknicks.”
The map also features a compass, but instead of the usual north, south, east and west directions, it spells out the name Pooh.
The Hundred Acre Wood was inspired by the Ashdown Forest, 40 miles south of London. The map was used as the opening animation of the 1966 Disney movie “Winnie-the-Pooh and the Honey Tree.”
Carl Court/Getty Images Europe/Getty Images
Leonardo da Vinci's "Salvator Mundi" became the most expensive artwork sold at auction in November 2017, when it went for over $450 million at Christie's in New York. Look through the gallery for more of history's priciest paintings.
courtesy christies
Pablo Picasso's "Les femmes d'Alger (Version 'O')" previously held the auction record after selling for $179.4 million in 2015.
BAS CZERWINSKI/AFP/AFP/Getty Images
The sale of Edvard Munch's "The Scream" to billionaire Leon Black for $119.9 million in 2012 marked more than a new art record: it was the first time that a pastel, rather than an oil or acrylic painting, came anywhere near achieving such a price.
VOLKER HARTMANN/DDP/AFP/Getty Images
Rock star Eric Clapton sold his "Abstraktse Bild" by art star Gerhard Richter in 2012 for £21.3 million, establishing a new record for a living artist and the highest price ever paid for a Gerhard Richter painting.
courtesy sothebys
Vincent van Gogh's "Portrait of Dr. Gachet" rocked the art world in 1990 when it sold to Tokyo's Kobayashi gallery for $82.5 million at Christie's-- more than twice the previous auction record.
STAN HONDA/AFP/AFP/Getty Images
Pablo Picasso's "Garçon a la Pipe" broke the $100 million ceiling when it sold at Sotheby's for over $104 million in May, 2004 -- the first painting to exceed the record set in 1990 for the "Dr.Gachet."
courtesy christies
The portrait of the ample-bodied Sue Tilley, a British government worker, was one of four such paintings the British artist produced of the woman he called "Fat Sue." The portrait achieved a record for the artist when it sold at Christie's New York in May, 2015.
TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP/AFP/Getty Images
Appetite for Modigliani's work had already been on the rise when this rare nude came up for sale. It set a new record for the artist -- and one of the highest prices ever set at auction -- when it sold at Christie's in November, 2015 to a Chinese billionaire bidding by telephone.
The original drawing of the map was first sold by Shepard in 1926 and it remained in a private collection.
Other original sketches of Pooh made by Shepard were also part of the Sotheby’s sale, according to the auction house. These sketches were estimated to be worth between $80,000 and $160,000 (or £60,000 and £120,000).