When I was a child I loved looking at the whimsical pictures in the Winnie-the-Pooh books. The stories my parents read to me from their pages seemed altogether real, as my stuffed animals too were imbued with personalities and stories of friendship and happiness. Somewhere amongst my family’s moves my books were lost and as adulthood loomed, I did not think about them for a very long time. For my first child’s baby shower I received a beautiful boxed set of all of the Winnie-the-Pooh series and poring over their pages, my childhood memories and love of these images and characters were reawakened. Although there have been colored editions of these original drawings, I find that the original black and white images are so clean and crisp, perfect for any child, easy to match many decor colors and themes, and make for a magical classic nursery theme.
These images are from the classic Winnie The Pooh books by A.A. Milne called Winnie-the-Pooh (1926) and The House at Pooh Corner (1928), and are in the Public Domain. You can freely print these, or take them to your local print shop to be printed to your desired size and paper type. A.A. Milne wrote these books for his little boy, Christopher Robin. Did you know that the author based many of the classic characters in the book on Christopher Robin’s stuffed animals?
The main characters include Winnie-the-Pooh and his friends Eeyore, a gloomy gray donkey; Piglet, a timid pig; Owl, a pontificating bird; the meddlesome Rabbit; and Kanga, an energetic kangaroo whose inquisitive baby, Roo, lives in her pouch, and an exuberant tiger named Tigger. They live in a forest called the Hundred Acre Wood.
The illustrator for these books is E.H. Shepard, who was an illustrator and also showed many works in famous galleries and art institutions as a painter. In fact , the Pooh Bear was modeled after E.H. Shepard’s son’s stuffed bear called “Growler”.
I am including links to free online versions of these two books. If you are not familiar with them, or have not thought about them much since you were a child, I hope you enjoy discovering or rediscovering Pooh and his friends!
You can use these images for many kinds of projects, including nursery art prints. For art prints you could opt for a higher quality paper if you are printing at home. Papers that I have tried and can recommend include: PPD Inkjet Canvas 100% Real Printable Cotton paper and PPD Inkjet Watercolor Matte Giclee Fine Art Archival Printer Paper that you can buy easily on Amazon (I am not an Amazon affiliate and won’t get commission if you buy this paper.) Another option, especially if you would like to print them in a larger format than your home printer will accommodate, is to take them to your local print shop and get the size and paper type that you most like for your nursery or child’s room.
I hope you enjoy these whimsical images and that they add a touch of whimsy and playfulness to your child’s world!
Friends on a Bridge
Dream a Little Dream
A Party of Friends
Whimsical Woodland 