Riddell and Blake illustrations auctioned at Sotheby’s

Sotheby’s will next week auction artwork by illustrators Chris Riddell and Quentin Blake, as well as celebrities like Eric Clapton, Brian Eno and Peter Capaldi, to raise money for the House of Illustration, according to the Guardian.

Lots on sale include a Famous Five illustration, created by Blake in 2012, as well as a Chris Riddell sketch of the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland. Brian Eno, Eric Clapton and Peter Capaldi have contributed “autobiographical drawings” that were first featured in a House of Illustration exhibition eight years ago, when artists were asked to describe themselves by doing a series of drawings of their favourite things.

Philip Errington, director of Sotheby’s specialist books and manuscripts, said: “These artworks are unlike any others that we have sold, because they were commissioned for an exhibition at the House of Illustration in 2008 rather than contributed to raise money in a sale. For them to come up for sale like this is rather extraordinary.”

The illustrations will go on sale on 13th December, which is also the date for the auction of a special copy of The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J K Rowling.

Chicken House m.d. Barry Cunningham, the man who acquired the manuscript for J K Rowling's Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone in the late 1990s, is selling his unique edition of the book, which is one of only six of its kind ever made.

It is inscribed with a personal dedication from Rowling and is bound in brown leather, with “seven unique mounted rhodochrosite stones”. It is also embellished with sterling silver ornaments and a silver skull.

Sotheby’s estimates the book will sell for £300,000-500,000 at auction.