A children's book illustration from the early part of Andy Warhol's career is to go on sale in New York next month.

暗地·沃霍尔的一本儿童插图书籍将于下个月在纽约上市。

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Warhol's simple artwork illustrates a cautionary tale about laziness

The delicate（细致优雅的，娇弱的） drawings of four story book animals are expected to fetch $600 (£355) at auction² on 9 December.

The US artist, who became famous for his pop art creations including silk screen prints of Marilyn Monroe, was a book illustrator from 1957-61.

At a recent sale of contemporary art, a Warhol print of a series of one dollar bills was sold for $43.8m (£26m).

It was the second highest auction price on record for the work of the artist, who died in 1987.

Hard work fable³

The story illustrations due to go under the hammer come from the Best In Children's Books series published in the 1950s.

The Little Red Hen, which extols⁴（赞美） the virtues⁵ of hard work, shows the hen toiling⁶ in a field while a lazy cat, dog and mouse look on.

Auction house Bloomsbury said the volumes up for sale had "lightly worn dust jackets with some minor⁷ chips".

Warhol studied commercial art in Pittsburgh before becoming a successful magazine illustrator（插图画家）.

He illustrated⁸ shoe advertisements and was later hired by record label RCA to design sleeves and other promotional materials.

His artistic⁹ career burgeoned¹⁰（迅速发展） in the 1960s and 70s, with his multi-coloured screen prints of well-known people gaining their own notoriety（恶名，臭名昭著）.

Warhol is also remembered for coining the phrase "famous for 15 minutes".