Most of the Pooh's fans forget E.H. Shaperd, the illustrator of Pooh story books, and the partner of A.A. Milne. I think he is a one of the greatest illustrators in the world.
Roy Strong said in the book "The Pooh Sketchbook", edited by Brain Sibly, that E.H,Shapard's illustrations to A.A Milne's Pooh stories form without doubt one of the greatest classics of children's book illustration. It's important to understand, however, how remarkable that is, for Shaperd's success as an illustrator was not based on that technical power of draughtsmanship we see in the work of artists such as Rackham. We do not go with him for a prolonged journey of the eye as we do the grat masters of drawing. His illustrations are classics for a wholly different reason. Our approach must be through the eyes of childhood, for Shaperd's pooh, Piglet, Eeyore and Tigger cast their compulsive spell because the artist only ever makes them but very slightly removed from the suffered toys on the nursery shelf. Whereas Beatrix Potter's animals are almost transformed in to furry occupants of the same domain, in the case of Shaperd the journey is made in precisely the opposite direction. Their relationship to the ephemeral art of Punch is also abundantly clear. There is a slightness to them , a delightful, rapid, thrown-off quality, particularly in the many thumbnail sketches dotted through the text. This is an adult aesthetic judgment abd one which in no way affects one saw them as a child and how young readers still see and respond to them. Shaperd's genius lay surely in being able to match exactly the mood of Milne's texts which have a similar and complementary rambling. quality. A less whimscal artist would have upset the balance. As it is, writer and illustrator were perfectly allied in a curiously English way, achiving tgereby one of great classics of children literature.
Winnie-The-Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner, written by A. A. Milne
and illustrated by E. H. Shepard. These books were first published in the
1920s, and star the familiar characters of Piglet, Owl, Rabbit, Tigger,
Kanga, Roo,Eeyore, Christopher Robin, and Edward Bear, commonly known as
Winnie-the-Pooh. A.A. Milne's only child,
Christopher Robin, is born on August
21. He is first called Billy by his family and later Moon,based on the child's
first pronunciation of Milne. For his first birthday, Christopher Robin
receives a stuffed bear from Harrod's in London that will later be immortalized
as Winnie the Pooh. On December 24 1925, the London Evening News publishes
a story entitled "Winnie-the-Pooh",what would eventually become
the first chapter of the book. Illustrations for this story were created
by J.H. Dowd. Christopher Robin's stuffed animals tour the United States.
E. P. Dutton, Milne's American publisher, insures the toys for $50,000.
The toys reside at Dutton until 1987, when they are moved to the New York
Public Library.