The Pooh Sketch Book is a wonderful look at the creative genius of Ernest H. Shepard. This collection of preliminary sketches for the classic Pooh illustrations is a must for any serious patron of illustration. Shepard's economy of line and his mastery of gesture and movement are even more evident in pencil form. The softness of the medium coupled with the charm of the subject is a perfect combination. Even though Shepard is a well known and well loved illustrator, this book gives you a new appreciation for the artist. The book is well produced and the illustrations are handled well. One does not often find a collection of studies for finished illustrations, and when one becomes available it offers the reader a rare chance to see the masters mind at work. I simply can not say enough about Ernest H. Shepard, and this amazing collection of drawings.

In first chapter Arthur Chandler states that, due to Shepard's desire for no biographical books to be written until thirty years after his death, he simply offers "a look through the Shepard Archive". He then procedes to write an autobiography padded out with illustrations. Maybe I am missing a trick or perhaps Chandler has found a few:

Firstly I can only deduce that "through the Shepard Archive" is an encrypted citation of a special infringement authorization policy granted by the Archive, as I find little evidence of close examination of the Archive works and rather a lot of biography.

Secondly he entitles the book "The Story of E H shepard: The Man who Drew Pooh". He later explains rather condescendingly in Chapter two that,in actual fact, Shepard was not just the man who drew Pooh, and that the book will therefore steer away from this aspect of his work. Perhaps there will be a few disapointed buyers out there, considering the misleading title. Maybe the book should be titled "The E H Shepard Story: The man who Drew Pooh, but this is Not what this Book is About".

Thirdly (and this is the unforgivable one) it is a very poorly written book. Crucial facts which should have been brought to light early on seem to pop up out of the blue later on, reminding one of a badly told joke. And what is wrong with a good old fashioned paragraph with a general point? A lot of facts are simply laid down in isolated sentences in the style of some sort of mystic. To be fair, this aspect of the writing is in keeping with the 'pseudo-art-history' style of the book which seeks to place Shepard and his works in a preserving vacume - away from history, and the history of art, and supposedly away from biography.

I read this book in an afternoon and was pleased that its over-simplistic style allowed me to wade - or should I say paddle?- through its 174 pages. In more ways than one Chandler has his cake and eats it, and a very bland cake it is too.