MILNE, A. A.. When We Were Very Young - Winnie The Pooh - House At Pooh Corner - Now We Are Six. (1955 - INSCRIBED BY A. A. MILNE IN EACH VOLUME)

AUTHOR: MILNE, A. A. 

TITLE: When We Were Very Young - Winnie The Pooh - House At Pooh Corner - Now We Are Six.

PUBLISHER: London: Methuen Children's Books, 1955.

DESCRIPTION: SIGNED BY MILNE ON THE HALF-TITLE IN EACH VOLUME. 4 vols., 7-1/2" x 5-1/16", illustrated by Ernest Shepard, signed by A. A. Milne on the half-title of each volume "by A. A. Milne", hardbound, publisher's original gilt stamped cloth binding, pictorial pastedowns and endpapers, DJ present to “Now We Are Six”.

CONDITION: General handling, inner and outer hinges fine, head and foot of spines fine, internally clean and bright, the DJ is somewhat worn, FAIR in a mylar sleeve.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: This signed set is quite possibly the last copies ever signed by Milne before his passing. The books were given to a Peter Batchelar, when he was age 3, by his Grandparents. His mother who trained as a nurse at Guy’s Hospital from 1942-1946 and an Auntie Morie, who was one of her closest friends, who was also a nurse, became Peter’s Godparents. A. A. Milne had a stroke in 1952 and was confined to a wheelchair until his death on 31st January 1956. Auntie Morie was caring for A. A. Milne at his home, Cotchford Farm in Hartfield, East Sussex when she asked him to sign the books in 1955. There is an additional gift inscription to the front flap of the DJ to “Now We Are Six” which reads “To Peter / From Auntie Morie / & Uncle Bing. / Christmas 55.” Though most biographies mention the decline in his health and the care by his wife, Dorothy, Milne almost certainly received nursing care after his disabling operation and during his final decline.

Milne began the poems in When We Were Very Young for his son Christopher Robin. They had originally appeared in Punch magazine and, to the shock of Milne and Methuen, the book sold out on publication day. It was an unqualified success, quoted, recited, and parodied everywhere. Milne based the stories of his second major book Winnie-the-Pooh on a set of stuffed animals Christopher Robin (called "Billy Moon" in the family) owned. Methuen published Milne's third children's book just two months after Winnie-the-Pooh. The House at Pooh Corner would be the last of the Pooh books. Milne wanted both to stop while the books were selling well - "I have had my thrill out of children's books, and know that I shall never recapture it" - and to protect his growing son: "I feel that the legal Christopher Robin has already had more publicity than I want for him. Moreover, since he is growing up, he will soon feel that he has had more publicity than he wants for himself. We all, young and old, hope to make some sort of name, but we want to make it in our own chosen way, and, if possible, by our own exertions" (Thwaite pages 338-39).