Ernest Howard Shepard MC OBE (1879-1976): sketches of Phyllis Tudor and Daphne Hill

Better known for his eponymous illustrations for A A Milne's Winnie the Pooh quartet and Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows, E H Shepard's drawings still seem as fresh and fluid as when they were first drawn a century ago. And this is also true of the delightful cache of 9 life-drawings that were have recently acquired featuring Phyllis Tudor and Daphne Hill, Shepard's models. As working drawings these would often be used as reference material for book illustrations and cartoons for Punch magazine. (Indeed, there are a couple of drawings in our collection that bear a close similarity to a couple of the published illustrations of the stylish Nanny-with-pram in When We Were Very Young and Now We Are). And while they display Shepard's keen eye for detail and brilliant dexterous, draughtsmanly skills these drawings are also a wonderful snapshot of 1920s 'flapper-style' fashions.

The drawings listed below were given to Phyllis Tudor by E.H. Shepard, and were then passed down by descent and sold at auction.

We, here, list 6 of the 9 drawings below

(but we'd be happy to send more details of the other drawings should you be interested):

Daphne Hill "a worse libel", signed EAS 17 X 23cm - £500

Phyllis Tudor dressed in outdoors wear, 17 x 23cm - £550

Portrait of Tudor drinking tea, signed E.A.S. to lower right corner, 21 x 27cm - £850

Portrait of Daphne Hill putting on her gloves, signed EAS 17 x 23cm - £500

Phyllis Tudor and another woman talking in the street with dockyard in the background (there's an indistinct inscription in pencil at the bottom of the drawing, 23.5 x 31cm - £750

Portrait of Phyllis Tudor in high fashion, 25.5 x 33.5cm - £850