THE GRUFFALO

A large original drawing of The Gruffalo, the mouse (who took a stroll through the deep dark wood) and a squirrel by the multi-award winning illustrator Axel Scheffler. Black crayon on thin off white flip chart paper measuring 57 x 75cm. Signed and dated by Axel Scheffler along the right edge. In very good condition, the paper lightly rippled, some light smudging to the margins. The drawing is bold, crisp and fluent. Rare in this large, albeit not quite life-sized form.

The drawing was executed in front of an audience on the occasion of the book launch of Scheffler's 'How to Keep a Pet Squirrel' (Faber, 2010) at Fenwick's department store in Newcastle on 2 October 2010. After the event, the drawings were donated to the Northumberland Wildlife Trust to be auctioned, the money raised going towards the Save our Squirrels campaign. It was purchased at that sale by a private collector, from whom we recently acquired it.