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Shepard later noted that the aged author was “not sure about his new illustrator of his book, he listened patiently while I told him what I hoped to do. Then he said ‘I love these little people, be kind to them’. Just that; but sitting forward in his chair, resting upon the arms, his fine handsome head turned aside, looking like some ancient Viking, warming, he told me of the river nearby, of the meadows where mole broke ground that spring morning, of the banks where Rat had his house, of the pool where Otter hid, and of Wild Wood way up on the hill above the river. He
would like, he said, to go with me to show me the river bank that he knew so well, ‘ . . . but now I cannot walk so far and you must find your way alone’”. Peter Green notes, in his biography of Grahame, that the author was “delighted (as countless children and adults have been) by the drawings Mr. Shepard produced”. The original publication of The Wind in the Willows in 1908 had only been illustrated with a frontispiece (and an admittedly sumptuous pictorial binding). Of all the illustrated editions of the classic book, it is Shepard’s that has endured.
Original drawing on paper (120 × 165 mm) on paper, fine pen and ink, signed with initials (“EHS”) lower right, additionally inscribed “Wind in the Willows”, “p. 145” and “He lay on some cool dock-leaves” (partially erased) below mount, mounted, framed and glazed (295 × 332 mm). Minor browning below mount, as usual. ¶ Peter Green, Kenneth Grahame, A Biography , 1959. £19,500 [153826]
All items are fully described and photographed at peterharrington.co.uk
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