MILNE, A. A.. When We Were Very Young - Winnie The Pooh - House At Pooh Corner - Now We Are Six. (4 VOLUMES - NEW UNIFORM EDITION - 1977)

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, 1977.

DESCRIPTION: NEW UNIFORM EDITION. 4 vols., 7-3/8" x 5-5/16", illustrated by E. H. Shepard, bound in 1/2 red morocco, ribbed gilt decorated spines, top edges gilt, by Lauriat Of Boston.

CONDITION: Internally clean and bright, inner and outer hinges fine, head and foot of spines fine, no previous ownership markings, inscriptions, or bookplate, minor spotting to cloth covers, otherwise A FINE SET.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: 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's 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).