Just Released: The Original Charlotte’s Web Illustrations

Wow, this brings back so many childhood memories. Charlotte’s Web is the best-selling children’s paperback of all time (Publisher’s Weekly, 2000). I remember reading that story dozens of times when I was growing up.

These original illustrations, drawn by Garth Williams in 1952, have been preserved for all these years in his family’s bank vault. Recently, 44 illustrations were released to be auctioned off to collectors at New York’s Heritage Auction Galleries next month.

How much will an illustration like this go for? Well, they are predicting around $12,000 each. The cover illustration is expected to bring in about $30,000. According to Diamond Galleries, “Garth Williams is one of the most important and influential 20th-century children’s book illustrators. His work will live forever in American literature.”