Milne, A.A. | A fine set of some of the best-loved children's books

The Passion of American Collectors: Property of Barbara and Ira Lipman

Milne, A.A.

A fine group of four Winnie-the-Pooh first editions, with illustrations by Ernest H. Shepard, in original dust jackets 

Lot includes: 

When We Were Very Young. London: Methuen, 1924. 8vo (189 x 124 mm). Half-title, signed and inscribed by Milne on the title-page, in-text illustrations; text block cracked. Publisher's blue cloth pictorially stamped in gold, spine gilt-lettered, top edge gilt, white endpapers; minor rubbing to corners, and head and tail of spine, minor offsetting to endpapers. Publisher's cream wove dust jacket, pictorially printed in blue; some soiling, nicks to corners, and head and tail of spine panel, spine panel sunned. First edition, second issue, as usual, with page ix numbered, presentation copy inscribed by Milne to John Martin — Winnie-the-Pooh. London: Methuen, 1926. 8vo (189 x 124 mm). Half-title, signed by Milne on the title-page. Publisher's green cloth pictorially stamped in gold, spine gilt-lettered, top edge gilt, decorative endpapers; very minor rubbing to head and tail of spine, minor offsetting to endpapers. Publisher's yellow-orange wove dust-jacket, pictorially printed in blue, listing 117th thousand of When We Were Very Young; some soiling, nicks to corners, and head and tail of spine panel. — Now We Are Six. London: Methuen, 1927. 8vo (189 x 124 mm). Half-title, signed by Milne on the title-page. Publisher's deep red cloth pictorially stamped in gold, spine gilt-lettered, top edge gilt, decorative endpapers; very minor rubbing to head and tail of spine. Publisher's mint wove dust-jacket, pictorially printed in blue; minor creasing upper panel, one or two stray spots, one or two closed tears at folds, one or two nicks at folds, minor sunning to spine panel. — The House at Pooh Corner. London: Methuen, 1928. 8vo (189 x 124 mm). Half-title, signed by Milne on the title-page. Publisher's salmon cloth pictorially stamped in gold, spine gilt-lettered, top edge gilt, decorative endpapers; very minor rubbing to head and tail of spine and one or to corners, scattered spotting to fore-edge, minor offsetting to endpapers, just cocked. Publisher's salmon wove dust-jacket, pictorially printed in blue; some soiling, nicks to corners, and head and tail of spine panel. Housed together in custom folding blue morocco box with inlaid image of Winnie-the-Pooh; remnants of label to interior, some fading.

A group of four first editions, each signed on the title page by Milne

The Pooh series began with a single story in a children's magazine, and as Milne added more verses to it, it evolved into When We Were Very Young. "The animals in the stories came for the most part from the nursery," Milne once commented. "My collaborator (his wife, Dorothy "Daphne" de Sélincourt) had already given them individual voices, their owner by constant affection had given them the twist in their fortunes which denoted character, and Shepard drew them, as one might say, from the living model. They were what they are for anyone to see. I described them rather than invented them."

REFERENCE

Carpenter and Prichard 352; Payne, "Four Children's Books by A. A. Milne," Studies in Bibliography 23 (1979), pp. 127-139