ORIGINAL drawings of Winnie-the-Pooh and the Mock Turtle from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland are part of a new winter exhibition celebrating children’s stories at Longleat House.

Running until January 8, ‘Picture This: Illustrating Stories for Children’ showcases a selection of original drawings for children’s books collected by Henry Frederick Thynne, 6th Marquess of Bath.

The exhibition features unique works by seven artists, including some of the most important names in the history of children's storybook illustrations.

Longleat House Curator, James Ford, said: “This small exhibition provides a rare opportunity to see an important part of the Longleat Collection that isn’t very well known.

“Thanks to the 6th Marquess’ passion for children’s literature, we’re lucky to have significant works by some of the most important artists ever to illustrate children’s books.

“We hope guests enjoy seeing illustrations that brought to life children’s classics such as Alice in Wonderland and Winnie-the-Pooh, before exploring the world of Roald Dahl made larger than life in The Festival of Light."

Original artworks are accompanied by published books, drawn from the large and important collection of children’s literature formed by the 6th Marquess.

The earliest work on display is a drawing by John Tenniel of the Mock Turtle in Lewis Carroll’s iconic Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1866), one of the most successful and influential illustrated books of all time.

Works by Randolph Caldecott, Kate Greenaway and Walter Crane represent the late-Victorian and Edwardian Golden Age of British children’s book illustration.

These three artists were the most successful illustrators of ‘toy books’, inexpensive short children’s books with colourful illustrations.

The exhibition includes the little-known Longleat ‘black book’, which Crane created for his six-year-old son Lionel in 1882. Consisting of 56 watercolours depicting Lionel’s adventures, this is the first time it has been on public display.

The inter-war period is represented by a famous drawing of Christopher Robin, Winnie-the-Pooh and Piglet by E.H. Shepard.

The final illustration in A.A. Milne’s Now we are Six (1927), a book of children’s verse including 11 poems featuring Winnie-the-Pooh, the drawing will be familiar to many as the cover image of later editions.

The most recent works in the exhibition have particularly strong links to Longleat and the Thynne family’s artistic talents.

Created by the 6th Marquess’s second son, Lord Christopher Thynne, they illustrated Candida Lycett Green’s The Adventure of Hadrian Hedgehog (1968).

The exhibition can be viewed while on a guided tour of Longleat House. For more information click here.