Pooh illustrator EH Shepard World War 1 drawings discovered in a trunk: Capital Bay News

http://www.capitalbay.news/news/909956-first-world-war-sketches-by-winnie-the-pooh-illustrator-eh-shepard-discovered-in-a-trunk.html

Poignant lost sketches that Winnie the Pooh illustrator E.H. Shepard drew from the First World War trenches have been published for the first time after they were discovered in a time-capsule box.

The collection of more than 100 never-seen-before sketches came to light when researchers stumbled upon a trunk belonging to Shepard which has lain unopened for almost 100 years.

He is best known for bringing the much-loved characters from classics Winnie the Pooh and The Wind in the Willows to life through his famous illustrations.

But during the First World War he had served in some of the bloodiest battles on the Western Front as a captain in the Royal Garrison Artillery.  

Below are some selections. More to be seen on the link above.

Sketches: Many of the images are hastily-drawn, such as this battlefield sketch showing British soldiers overwhelming an Austrian gun emplacement at Monte Mosiagh

Grim sights: This battlefield drawing shows bodies and the rubble of buildings around Zillebeke, Belgium not far from the battlefield of Passchendaele

At war: This action-packed scene shows tanks, planes and infantry clashing at the Somme in 1916. Shepard did not come to illustrate children's classics Winne the Pooh and The Wind in the Willows for years after the war