The sketch by EH Shepard, which has been unseen for 50 years, featured on the opening endpapers of AA Milne’s 1926 book, introducing readers to the land of Pooh, Christopher Robin and their friends.
Included in the London saleroom’s auction of July 10, it is estimated at £100,000-150,000.
The map serves as an introduction for some of the characters. Eeyore, for example, is drawn in his “boggy and sad” gloomy place, and Roo bounces toward his sandy play pit. Forty years after it appeared in the book, it was brought to life as an animation in the opening sequence of the Disney film Winnie-the-Pooh and the Honey Tree.
It is offered with four other original illustrations by Shepard, including the one of the most well-known, a scene of Christopher Robin, Pooh and Piglet standing on a bridge, looking beneath them.
The five works have a combined estimate of £310,000-440,000.
