“AMONG THE BEST EVER WRITTEN FOR CHILDREN”: EXCEPTIONALLY RARE LARGE PAPER SIGNED LIMITED FIRST EDITIONS OF THE FOUR POOH BOOKS, ALL IN ORIGINAL DUST JACKETS

MILNE, A. A. The Four Pooh Books: When We Were Very Young; Winnie The Pooh; Now We Are Six; The House At Pooh Corner. London: Methuen, 1924-28. Four volumes. Large, square octavo, original half cloth, original dust jackets. Housed in custom chemise and half green morocco slipcase. $60,000.

Large paper signed, limited first editions on handmade paper of A. A. Milne’s four wonderful Pooh books, each signed by both Milne and Shepard, in original dust jackets. All lovely copies. The exceptionally rare first volume limited to only 100 copies, the others from 200 to 300 copies.

"One would have to search far and wide to find fictional characters as beloved to so many readers… Although Alan Alexander Milne wrote novels, short stories, poetry and many plays for adults… it is his writings for children that have captured the hearts of millions of people worldwide and granted Milne everlasting fame… Winnie-the-Pooh's adventures are not only arguably the greatest toy fantasies ever written for children, they are also, simply and undeniably, great literature" (Silvey, 461-63). Shepard's endearing illustrations enhance Milne's whimsical verse and prose; they "show character and movement in simple line vignettes, which add so much to the books that most people consider them to be inseparable from the texts" (Silvey, 462). Winnie the Pooh, the second in the series, has been described as "among the best ever written for children." When We Were Very Young, the rarest of all Pooh books, is number 92 of only 100 copies; Winnie-the-Pooh is number 192 of 350 copies; Now We Are Six is number 151 of 200 copies; and The House at Pooh Corner is number 71 of 350 copies. With a publisher's advertisement laid in for the related songbook Fourteen Songs.

All four books fine. Dust jackets of first three books with sunning to spine; tape reinforcement to verso of Winnie the Pooh. Light foxing and most minor edge-wear to dust jacket of The House at Pooh Corner, with expert repair to small chip of front panel; Dust jackets in extremely good to near-fine condition. A lovely set of these children's classics, among the best-loved books of the twentieth century. Sold separately and extremely rare individually, this set is most rare and exceptionally desirable.