In celebration of the 100th anniversary of the publication of When We Were Very Young, we are delighted to present a complete deluxe set of the Pooh books, each being one of a limited edition signed by both A. A. Milne and E. H. Shepard and remaining in outstanding condition throughout. The set was acquired when new by the vendors’ family and has never previously been offered for sale.
Books & Manuscripts
A.A. Milne: About a Bear
27 May 2024
Dominic Somerville-Brown
A. A. Milne had already established himself as a moderately successful author when he began writing When We Very Young over the course of a wet family holiday in Wales in 1923. Its publication the following year changed his life and heralded the creation of a world which would capture the imagination of generations of children – and adults – to come. Printed in November, the work was in its sixth edition by Christmas, and was being acclaimed in the Times as the greatest children’s book since Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
Winnie-the-Pooh
Winnie-the-Pooh appears in When We Very Young as the anonymous teddy who ‘however hard he tries / Grows tubby without exercise’. The book that bears his name appeared in 1926, and was followed in 1927 by a second book of children’s verse, Now We Are Six, with The House at Pooh Corner, published in 1928, completing the set.
These deluxe editions were published simultaneously with the trade editions, but strike a markedly different visual note, each being presented in an imposing quarto format and printed on fine handmade paper, bringing out every splendid detail in E. H. Shepard’s iconic illustrations. Only 100 such copies of When We Were Very Young were produced, with the limitations increased only slightly for the later works, to a maximum of 350 for The House at Pooh Corner.
The set will be offered in our Rare Books, Manuscripts, Maps & Photographs sale on 19 June 2024.
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