SIGNED LIMITED FIRST AMERICAN EDITION OF WHEN WE WERE VERY YOUNG, ONE OF ONLY 100 SIGNED BY A.A. MILNE

MILNE, A.A. When We Were Very Young. New York: E.P. Dutton, (1924). Octavo, original half green cloth, illustrated paper-covered boards, pictorial endpapers, original dust jacket. $6200.

Limited first American edition, number 58 of only 100 copies (of a total edition of only 500) signed by Milne.

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] 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" (DNB). Milne's writings for children "have captured the hearts of millions of people worldwide and granted [him] everlasting fame" (Silvey, 461). 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). Bookseller's small ticket.

Interior clean save for light offsetting to endpapers. Mild foxing to boards, slight rubbing to extremities. Fragile and scarce original dust jacket with some wear and loss. Very good condition.