For the first lot offered on December 4, Tim to the Rescue of 1949 – the third book in his much-loved series – this was a low-estimate result, but for the much later artwork he produced for Diana and her Rhinoceros of 1964, that same figure was £10,000 over the high estimate.
Edward Ardizzone artwork sold for £30,000 at Bonhams.
Both lots had been extensively promoted in the Bonhams house magazine, which featured both an appreciation of their creator by Alan Powers, author of an acclaimed work of 2016, Edward Ardizzone: Artist and Illustrator, and a shorter but very enthusiastic tribute to Ardizzone’s genius by a lifelong admirer, Stephen Fry.
Reproduced here is one of the sheets from Tim to the Rescue and the front section of the cover artwork for Diana and her Rhinoceros.
