HarperCollins Publishers Limited Collection

The HarperCollins Publishers Limited Collection (formerly the Egmont UK Ltd Winnie-the-Pooh and The Wind in the Willows Collection) originated as a working collection relating to the illustration of the Winnie-the-Pooh books written by A.A. Milne and The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame. The collection was primarily created out of the publication of colour illustrated editions of the Winnie-the-Pooh books by Methuen Children's Books Ltd in the early 1970s and the late 1980s. It was subsequently used and further developed by Egmont Children's Books Ltd (later Egmont Books Ltd and then Egmont UK Ltd) in the 21st century, following the acquisition of the Methuen Children's Books imprint by the Egmont publishing group.

The collection chiefly consists of the colour illustrations created by the illustrators E.H. Shepard and Mark Burgess, comprising: hand-coloured illustrations by Shepard, based on copies of his original drawings; hand-coloured illustrations by Burgess, based on copies of Shepard’s original drawings; and original coloured illustrations by Burgess.

Works represented within the collection include:

• Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows (1971), London: Methuen;
• A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh (1973), London: Methuen;
• A.A. Milne, The House at Pooh Corner (1974), London: Methuen;
• A.A. Milne, When We Were Very Young (1989), London: Methuen;
• A.A. Milne, Now We Are Six (1989), London: Methuen;
• David Benedictus, Return to the Hundred Acre Wood (2009), London: Egmont.

Additionally included within the collection are:

• 6 original pen and ink illustrations by Shepard for the 1931 edition of The Wind in the Willows;
• a small quantity of Shepard's correspondence with Methuen Children's Books Ltd;
• a series of Methuen & Co. Ltd working files relating to Shephard's illustrations of the Winnie-the-Pooh books;
• published works featuring illustrations by Shepard and Burgess, including recent publications by HarperCollins Publishers Limited published under the Farshore imprint.

The Winnie-the-Pooh books written by A.A. Milne were first published in the United Kingdom by Methuen & Co. Ltd between 1924 and 1928. These original editions featured black-and-white line illustrations drawn by the illustrator E.H. Shepard. Methuen & Co. Ltd were also the original publishers of The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame (first published 1908).

In 1931 the company produced a new illustrated edition featuring black-and-white line illustrations by Shepard.

In the 1970s the publishers, now trading under the name Methuen Children's Books Ltd, commissioned new colour illustrated editions of The Wind in the Willows , Winnie-the-Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner . For these editions, Shepard worked on copies of his original illustrations, hand-colouring them himself.

Methuen published further colour illustrated editions of When We Were Very Young and Now We Are Six in 1989. As Shepard had died in 1976, the work of colouring the illustrations was undertaken by the illustrator Mark Burgess.

Methuen Children's Books was acquired by the Egmont publishing group in the late 1990s. Egmont Children's Books Limited (which later operated under the names Egmont Books Limited and Egmont UK Ltd) published new editions of the Winnie-the-Pooh books with the coloured illustrations by Shepard and Burgess. Egmont additionally commissioned new illustrations by Burgess in the style of Shepard, most notably for Return to the Hundred Acre Wood by David Benedictus.

In 2020 Egmont Books was acquired from Egmont UK Ltd by HarperCollins Publishers Limited, which publishes works in the Winnie-the-Pooh book series under the Farshore imprint.

Illustrations within this collection are arranged by the work that they were produced for, with additional series for correspondence and published works. The working files of Methuen & Co Ltd are retained as a separate series, reflecting the separate provenance of this material from the rest of the collection.

Material is available to view in the University of Surrey Archives and Special Collections Research Room.

Access to some collection items may be restricted, for instance where sensitive personal or commercial information has been identified during cataloguing, or to protect very fragile items. The Archives team will advise of any restrictions that may be in place.

All records are open to public access under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 unless subject to specific exemption. Records containing personal information on individuals are subject to the terms of UK Data Protection legislation.

The bulk of the collection was deposited on long-term loan with the University of Surrey in August 2017 by the publisher Egmont UK Ltd, with a further deposit of historic files relating to Methuen & Co. Ltd occurring in October 2017. Since this date the collection has been supplemented by a small number of additional accessions in the form of published works by Egmont UK Ltd and HarperCollins Publishers Limited.

This collection and its catalogue contains terminology or content which could be considered offensive. The language used in the catalogue records reflect that of the original items and has been retained to record the language used at the time the item was created. It in no way reflects the attitudes of the cataloguer or the University of Surrey.

A catalogue for the collection is available to view on the University of Surrey Archives and Special Collections online catalogue .

Collection Level Description compiled by Matthew Waters, 2017, with revisions by Melanie Peart, 2021, and Simon Mackley, 2024.

This Archives Hub description prepared by Simon Mackley in October 2024. Please see the University of Surrey Archives and Special Collections online catalogue for any subsequent amendments.

Some of the illustrations produced for the works featured in this collection are known to be in private ownership.

Please note: Researchers are not permitted to photograph items from this collection, and the archives team are unable to supply researchers with scans of collection items.

All requests to publish or otherwise reproduce material from the archive should be directed to archives@surrey.ac.uk in the first instance. Unauthorised copying or reproduction is strictly prohibited.

The collection was generated by Methuen Children's Books Ltd, and later by Egmont UK Ltd, during the course of their publishing activities. In 2017 Egmont UK Ltd transferred the collection to University of Surrey Archives and Special Collections on long-term loan. The collection was subsequently named the Egmont UK Ltd Winnie-the-Pooh and The Wind in the Willows Collection. In 2020 ownership of the collection passed to HarperCollins Publishers Limited following their acquisition of Egmont Books, and in 2024 the collection was renamed the HarperCollins Publishers Limited Collection in recognition of the change in ownership.

In July-September 2023 HarperCollins funded a project of remounting, digital imaging, and minor conservation work on several series of illustrations within this collection.

Two related collections are held by Archives and Special Collections, University of Surrey:

• The E.H. Shepard Archive, [collection reference: EHS];
• The Shepard Trust Collection, which includes E.H. Shepard's artwork from the First World War [collection reference: ST].

The corporate archive of HarperCollins Publishers Limited within the United Kingdom is held by the company at its Glasgow offices.