Original Charlotte's Web Art Up For Auction
Does the image above take you right back to your childhood? Near-complete art from Charlotte's Web, all-time best-selling children's paperback will be sold in Heritage Auctions' October 15 event. More than 40 original illustrations from the classic children's book including the cover art from the estate of legendary illustrator Garth Williams, will be part of Heritage Auctions Illustration Art Auction, taking place at the Fletcher-Sinclair Mansion, 2 East 79th Street, New York City.
The auction marks the first major event for Heritage in the city since the September opening of Heritage Auctions New York City at 445 Park Avenue, where the cover art is currently on public display for passersby in the "Heritage Window on Park Avenue."
Published in 1952, Charlotte's Web was named the best-selling children's paperback of all time by Publisher's Weekly in 2000. The original cover art and 44 of the book's 46 interior illustrations will be offered in the auction, and sold without reserve. The art has carefully preserved by the family in a bank vault since the artist's death.
"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." It has an estimate of $20,000 to $30,000.
In addition to Charlotte's Web, Williams illustrated dozens of books by a wide variety of authors, including White's Stuart Little, Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House series of books and George Selden's The Cricket in Times Square.
