News from Cellar Door Books

WHO WAS
NED HILLS ?

Edward B. (Ned) Hills was the first commercial promoter of Tasha Tudor's art and books. He discovered Tudor when Pumpkin Moonshine was published in 1938 and remained a loyal friend and supporter until his death in 1979. His sales of Tudor paintings and drawings through his Tasha Tudor Room will never be surpassed.

Hills was born in Mill Hall, Pa., in 1901, near Lock Haven and Williamsport. He attended prep school and college in New England where he earned a degree in English. He first taught at the University of Illinois 3 years, and then the University of New Hampshire for 5 years before coming home to join the faculty at Lock Haven State College. He remained a member of the Lock Haven English department until his retirement in 1968. And he traveled! He once accounted for visiting 41 countries and that was before going to Russia and other iron curtain countries.

Ned Hills and his sister Charlotte Brown founded the Dutch Inn gift shop and restaurant in the old family home at Mill Hall in 1933. The restaurant was a busy and famous place in north central Pennsylvania.   For most of the next 46 years, it was the gift shop and the Tasha Tudor Room in particular that drew visitors. It was Mecca for people infatuated with Tasha Tudor's art. They came from across the United States to buy the latest books and Christmas cards that Tasha had designed. The books were almost always signed. Hills noted that he sold 3 gross of Little Women in the first 2 moths after its publication.

Hills never married and thus devoted his life to his occupations. Difficulties with his eyesight at about the same time that he retired from active teaching hardly slowed him down. He recalled humorously that he tripped on a small riser at the British Museum and nearly took out the Elgin marbles.

Hills enthusiasm for Tudor's work spread across his family.   His sister Charlotte Brown and her daughters developed a large collection of very special Tudor pieces. She named one of her daughters Tasha. The other sister Gretchen Brown McKeever became Hills' steady help mate in his later years. Following their uncle's death it became Gretchen and Tasha's task to liquidate his estate - and vast Tudor collection. Pieces were initially sold by the Gaithersburg, Maryland, book dealer Doris Frohnsdorff.   She issued two catalogs devoted solely to the Hills material - including portraits of Tudor by her mother. Frohnsdorff also sold one of the few oil paintings Tudor completed - a portrait of her daughter Efner. These three latter items have been seen recently in the traveling exhibition organized by the Norman Rockwell Museum.

Ned Hills' shop sold Tudor materials at the same time that the McCreadys sold from the Ginger and Pickles Store in their own home. These were the only two places to purchase Tudor watercolors from the 1940s through the 1970s.   The normal pattern was for Tudor to send originals to Ned Hills as soon as the watercolors were returned from the publishers. Sometimes, Tudor sold a few before sending the rest to Mill Hall. But, through their combined efforts, Hills and Tudor sold paintings as soon as they became available. The normal price was $125 per painting. Black and white drawings were much less.

There is a most useful reference for Tudor collectors and a scarce one too. It is a small pamphlet with a very long title: A Partial List of Original Water Colors, Drawings, Oils, and Pastels by Tasha Tudor Together with the names of the owners of most of the pieces. This 76 page work was compiled by Edward B. Hills and Gretchen Brown McKeever and published in 1975 to track the art that had been sold through their shop. It is difficult to find because few copies were actually sold. This was a labor of love on Hills part. He donated most of the copies to university libraries around the country. If you live near your state university, you can probably find a copy in the library there.

One final interesting minutiae about Hills -- Tudor modeled her Santa Claus after Hills for The Night Before Christmas (Rand McNally, 1975). To help promote Tudor's work and further his own business, Hills held occasional "autographing parties" when Tudor was available to sign books for her fans. In 1967 more than 3000 people came to Mill Hall for the one day event. Older Tudor collectors remember him fondly and miss him dearly. Younger fans are the poorer for not having met him.