Winnie the Pooh drawing fetches £314,500 at auction

One of the most famous images of Winnie the Pooh has sold for £314,500 at auction, three times its estimate.

EH Shepard's ink drawing of the bear playing Poohsticks with Piglet and Christopher Robin was published in 1928.


The illustration, which featured in AA Milne's second book, The House At Pooh Corner, had been in a private collection since the 1970s.


It formed part of Sotheby's sale of children's books.


The London auction also featured items from history, English literature and illustrations.


The famed drawing, entitled For a long time they looked at the river beneath them… is set in chapter six of the second Milne book, which was called "In which Pooh invents a new game and Eeyore joins in".


It was one of several Shepard illustrations up for auction.


A pencil drawing of the same scene sold at Sotheby's last year for £58,750.


The original wooden crossing on which the illustration is based, known as Posingford Bridge, is in AA Milne's hometown of Ashdown Forest in East Sussex.


The bridge fell into disrepair by the 1970s, but was restored and reopened by Christopher Milne, the author's son who inspired the character of Christopher Robin, in May 1979.