LOVELY SET OF SIGNED LIMITED FIRST AMERICAN EDITIONS OF MILNE AND SHEPARD’S “POOH QUARTET”
MILNE, A. A. When We Were Very Young. WITH: Winnie-the Pooh. WITH: Now We Are Six. WITH: The House at Pooh Corner. New York: E.P. Dutton, 1924-28. Together, four volumes. When We Were Very Young: Octavo, original half green cloth, white paper-covered boards illustrated in color, original pictorial dust jacket. Winnie-the-Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner: Quarto, original half cloth, printed paper spine labels, pictorial boards; Winnie-the-Pooh with original corresponding dust jacket). Now We Are Six: Quarto, original three-quarter pink cloth, printed paper spine label, pictorial boards, original corresponding dust jacket. Last three titles in original cardboard boxes. $0.
Signed limited first American editions of all four of the Pooh books.
"Although Alan Alexander Milne wrote novels, short stories, poetry and many plays for adults, in addition to his work as assistant editor for Punch from 1906 to 1914, it is his writings for children that have captured the hearts of millions of people worldwide and granted Milne everlasting fame" (Silvey, 461). Milne wrote most of these poems at the request of friend and fellow poet Rose Fyleman, who was planning a new children's magazine. "On a rain-blighted holiday in Wales, [Milne] escaped from the crowd of fellow guests to the summerhouse, and for 11 days wrote a set of children's verses, one each day… 'There on the other side of the lawn was a child with whom I had lived for three years [his son, Christopher Robin]… and here within me were unforgettable memories of my own childhood" (Carpenter & Prichard, 351). Shepard, a Punch staff artist at the time, provided delightful line vignettes, resulting in "a wonderful marriage of verse and vision. His delicately precise and fresh drawings had an instant appeal" (DNB). The first American edition of When We Were Very Young was issued in the same year as the London first edition and was made up of only 500 copies, 100 of which were signed by Milne (this copy number 58). Winnie-the-Pooh number 108 of 200 copies. Now We Are Six number 133 of 200 copies. Without original dust jacket for House at Pooh Corner. When We Were Very Young and Winnie-the-Pooh with bookseller's small ticket. Now We Are Six and The House at Pooh Corner with bookplate.
When We Were Very Young with mild foxing to boards, slight rubbing to extremities; fragile scarce dust jacket with wear and some loss. Other three books and two dust jackets fine with expert repairs to original cardboard boxes. A lovely and desirable, complete set of signed limited first American editions.