by John Clare (Surrey Advertiser 3. 10. 1997)
Nevertheless, in a filing cabinet on the Guildford campus is a treasure trove of drawings, sketches, and first covers by the renowned illustrator E.H. Shepard perhaps most famous for the enchanting illustrations in A. A. Milne's classic children's books.
Most of the original sketches of Pooh are now owned by Disney, but the few which remain with the university are not as far away from Christopher Robin's house as you might think.
In fact Shepard did all the illustrations for the books during the 53 years he spent living in the villages around Guildford.
The bear of little brain and his friends share their drawer with a vast collection of other drawings by Shepard, dating back to his school days.
These include sketches made in the trenches during the First World War, cartoons for Punch magazine, and illustrations from all the novels, cook books, and collections of poetry he helped bring to life with his art.
E. H. Shepard spent holidays in Shalford as a child and moved to Surrey in 1904 after marrying his first wife. He lived in Surrey, either in Shamley Green or Longdown, until 1957.
When Shepard presented the residue of his drawings, his manuscripts, diaries, memorabilia and papers to the newlyformed University of Surrey in 1974, the grateful institution held an exhibition allowing the public to see his wonderful artwork for themselves.
Two years later, and 50 years after Winnie the Pooh was first published, E.H Shepard died aged 97, and his legacy was secmingly forgotten.
When the university employed Arthur Chandler as its official archivist in 1987 he remained unaware of the collection's existence until a year later when he discovered the precious hoard stored in bin liners and cereal boxes while rummaging through the archives.
Mr Chandler immediately held another exhibition and afterwards work began to properly sort, preserve, and store the collection. But the job proved expensive and time consuming and there were no people and no money available to help Mr Chandler with the task.
Finally, about 18 months, ago he approached the Vice-Chancellor of the university, Prof Patrick Dowling, who was able to find enough money for an assistant to help Mr Chandler.
The drawings are now being sorted and properly stored. Even so much more money is needed to complete the task and Mr Chandler and Prof Dowling have launched a fund-raising campaign with the aim of finding L50,000 to preserve Shepard's work for posterity.
"So far we have raised L10,000 but we need the rest in order to preserve what is very much a piece of local heritage," said Mr Chandler.
"This is the home of Pooh, not Disneyland or somewhere. Shepard's original studio in Shamley Green is still there."
He explained that next summer renovation work on the university's library would be complete and the building would include a purpose-built section for the archives.
"The exhibition being put on to celebrate that opening will be of Shepard's work, . and hopefully we will have
Bad luck Benito: A cheerful Punch, dressed as a Royal Navy sailor, carries off a tightly trussed Mussolini in a Second World War Shepard cartoon for the magazine. Shepard's son, Graham, died at sea in 1943 and a memorial tablet can be seen in St Martha's Church, Longdown. reached our target by then," he said.
"The aim is to have the collection as an open research source for students."
Anyone who wants to help the campaign with a donation should send cheques made payable to The University of Surrey, to The Vice Chancellor's Office, Senate House, University of Surrey, Guildford, GU2 SXH.