Wind in the Willows original drawing sells for £33k

The pencil and ink drawing by Ernest Howard Shepard was created in about 1931

An original illustration for Wind in the Willows has sold at auction for £33,644.

The pencil and ink drawing by Ernest Howard Shepard was created in about 1931 to illustrate the children's novel by Kenneth Grahame.

It shows Mr Toad, Ratty, Badger and Mole outside Toad Hall, and was sold at Cheffins auctioneers in Cambridge.

Nicolas Martineau, a director at Cheffins, said it showed "the enduring popularity of works by this most iconic of illustrators".

The auctioneers said it was sold to a UK-based trade buyer for almost triple its pre-sale estimate of £12,000.

Mr Martineau said the amount was "a testament to Shepard's skill and brilliance".

The drawing has been in private hands since it was acquired by the family of the current owner 69 years ago and was recently rediscovered hanging on the stairs of an East Anglian country house.

Titled "Swaggering down the Steps", the illustration depicts Mr Toad coming down the steps of Toad Hall clad in motoring attire to be greeted by Ratty, Badger and Mole.

It is inscribed in the margins with instructions for the printer.

E. H. Shepard also illustrated A. A. Milne's Winnie-the-Pooh.

The current auction record for one of his works was for a framed ink drawing of The Original Map of the Hundred Acre Wood from Winnie-the-Pooh which made £430,000 in 2018, Cheffins said.