Lord Jeffrey Archer is to auction his singular collection of political cartoons for charity at Sotheby’s London on March 14.
A former politician himself, Lord Archer began acquiring original artworks from the likes of Winnie-the-Pooh illustrator EH Shepard (1879-1976) and James Gilray (1756-1815) in the mid 1980s.
Jeffrey Archer has collected political cartoons since the mid-1980s
The oldest date to the 1760s, while others reference modern events such as the killing of Osama Bin Laden.
In all 240 works will appear in the sale, with the proceeds earmarked for a number of educational foundations.
Archer originally planned to donate the collection to a museum, but was unable to find one willing to take it on.
He explained in a 2011 interview with the Independent newspaper: "The collection is very special to me.
"The problem was that the collection of Impressionists grew and my wife wanted to make space for them on the walls. The cartoons had to come down. I'm not quarrelling with that...
“There are other people going around claiming they have great collections. The difference with this collection is that they are the originals. These are not cut out of your paper and kept for 30 years."
We have our own original EH Shepard cartoon for sale. Take a look here.
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