Heritage Auctions will sell more than 40 pieces of original art by Garth Williams from E.B. White's classic CHARLOTTE'S WEB on October 15, 2010. Press release here. The seminal collection of drawings includes the iconic cover art. Click above for an amazingly large hi res image.
"'There are few people born after 1950, maybe even 1940, who are not intimately familiar with E.B. White’s timeless story,' said Barry Sandoval of Heritage Auctions, 'or with these amazing illustrations. The same cover image has been used for 58 years, and this may be the most-printed cover illustration of any book by an American author.'
"Now the Williams estate is making the art available to collectors for the first time. It was carefully preserved by the family in a bank vault since the artist's death.
"'When Garth started doing books in the 1940s, once he completed an illustration, those illustrations were forwarded to the publisher, used, and then returned to Garth,' says Williams’ friend and attorney Richard M. Ticktin, a spokesperson for the family."
This just seems wrong, Mike. These works should be kept as a collection in a museum somewhere. Very sad.
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