A.A. Milne
MILNE, A. A. Winnie-the-Pooh.
London: Methuen & Co. Ltd., 1926. First edition, first impression. Illustrated throughout by E. H. Shepard.
The book that established Winnie-the-Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore, Owl and the inhabitants of the Hundred Acre Wood as some of the most enduring characters in children’s literature. Milne drew upon the toys of his son, Christopher Robin Milne, while Shepard’s illustrations - inspired in part by the real Ashdown Forest - created the visual world that remains inseparable from the stories.
This first impression contains ten stories, beginning with Pooh’s attempt to obtain honey from the bees and including encounters with Heffalumps, Eeyore’s lost tail, Piglet, Rabbit and Christopher Robin. Shepard’s celebrated map of the Hundred Acre Wood appears at the front.
Finely bound in full dark green morocco, the upper board centred with a gilt vignette of Christopher Robin and Winnie-the-Pooh after Shepard, within an elaborate gilt ornamental border. Spine with raised bands, richly gilt compartments, gilt titles and the date 1926 at foot. Marbled endpapers complete the binding.
