'Once, as they drifted silently past a massive white cloud, they saw on the top of it a group of strange, tall, wispy–looking things that were about twice the height of ordinary men... "Ssshh!" James whispered back. "Don't let them hear you! They must be Cloud–Men!"'

[James and the Giant Peach, New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 1961]

Lane Smith
James and the Giant Peach with the Cloud–Men
pencil and wash with white bodycolour
signed with initials
Image size: 18.5 by 11.5 cm

See note to previous lot.

In order to escape from the sharks James asks the Silkworm to make threads for the seagulls to carry the peach away like a balloon.

£300–500