Man Finds Rare Trove of Winnie-the-Pooh Drawings and Manuscripts in His Father’s Attic

Simon Smith was cleaning out his late father’s attic when he stumbled upon a plastic bag full of papers. When he looked inside, he was shocked to find letters, drawings and manuscripts that had once belonged to author A.A. Milne, the creator of Winnie-the-Pooh.

Now, after “[capturing the imagination of the publishing world,” the rare documents have found new homes in the United States and the United Kingdom, says Will Farmer, director of Fieldings Auctioneers, to BBC News’ Shehnaz Khan and Elliott Webb. They sold for £95,000 (more than $118,000) at a Fieldings Auctioneers’ sale earlier this month.

The papers were discovered among the belongings of Leslie Smith, who had worked in publishing and lived in Malvern, a town in Worcestershire, England. After he died in November 2023, his son was sorting through his possessions when he found the unexpected treasure trove.

Among his father’s documents, Simon Smith found original Winnie-the-Pooh manuscripts and drawings, including original sketches for The Christopher Robin Birthday Book. The collection also included first drafts of Milne’s poem “Wind on the Hill,” as well as corrected proofs of Now We Are Six and The House at Pooh Corner.

Simon Smith also discovered previously unseen correspondence between Milne, illustrator E.H. Shepherd and publisher Frederick Muller. In one letter, dated March 28, 1928, Milne defends his honey-loving bear, writing: “By the way, Pooh protests strongly against being called a ‘fabulous monster’ in today’s Observer.”

In others, Milne expresses frustration with Shephard’s illustrations. “[He] must do new drawings for April and September as the originals are very poor,” Milne wrote.

Simon Smith also found correspondence from English children’s author Enid Blyton, as well as postcards to his father from J.R.R. Tolkien, the author of The Lord of the Rings.

How did the papers end up in Leslie Smith’s hands? He had founded a publishing company called Cressrelles, which then took over the publishing company run by Muller’s family, reports the Guardian’s Yassin El-Moudden.

Simon Smith was “gobsmacked” by the discovery, but he didn’t think it made sense for the family to keep the papers, as he told BBC News’ Gavin Kermack and Webb ahead of the auction.

“There’s four of us [children] and plenty of grandchildren and lots of great-grandchildren, so where would they go in the family?” he added. “We would like to see them somewhere useful.”

He brought the archive to the team at Fieldings Auctioneers, who worked with Clive Farahar of the BBC’s “Antiques Roadshow” to come up with starting prices for the papers, per the Independent’s Shahana Yasmin. They were split into 34 lots for the auction.

Born in London in 1882, Milne was a prolific humorist, editor, essayist and playwright. After serving in World War I, he moved his family to a farm in the English countryside. There, Milne and his son, Christopher Robin, began exploring the nearby forest—often accompanied by Christopher Robin’s favorite stuffed animals.

Around the same time, the father-son duo visited the London Zoo and spotted a black bear named Winnie. Christopher Robin renamed his stuffed bear in the animal’s honor—and the rest is history. Milne’s first Winnie-the-Pooh tale was published in December 1925 in the London Evening News.

The books—and as well as the movies, TV shows and merchandise that followed—remain popular a century later. They “will always have a special place in British literary lore,” as Patrick Sauer wrote for Smithsonian magazine in 2017.

He added: “Published following the brutality of World War I, they provided a much-needed solace in a time of great sadness, a connection to the innate wonder of childhood and a specifically British sensibility.”

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