[The Four Pooh Books]. When We Were Very Young. [Together with:] Winnie-the-Pooh. [And:] Now We Are Six. [And:] The House at Pooh Corner

London: Methuen & Co.,, 1924-28. People say nothing is impossible, but I do nothing every day...
Don't underestimate the value of Doing Nothing, of just going along,
listening to all the things you can't hear, and not bothering."

A Fine First Edition Set of the Four "Pooh" Books in their Original Dust Jackets

MILNE, A[lan] A[lexander]. SHEPARD, Ernest H., illustrator. [The Four Pooh Books]. When We Were Very Young. With Decorations by Ernest H. Shepard. London: Methuen & Co., [1924].

First edition (second issue with p. ix numbered). Small octavo (7 1/2 x 5 inches; 190 x 127 mm.). x, [2], 99, [1] pp. Numerous text illustrations.

Publisher's dark blue cloth, gilt ruled front cover pictorially stamped in gilt, back cover pictorially stamped in gilt, spine lettered in gilt, plain endpapers, top edge gilt. Minimal rubbing to corners and spine extremities. Neat contemporary ink name and date "November 28th 1924" on front blank. A near fine copy. In the original cream-colored pictorial dust jacket printed in dark blue. Jacket spine with minimal browning and a few tiny chips to head and tail of spine with no loss of text.

[Together with:]

MILNE, A[lan] A[lexander]. Winnie-the-Pooh. With Decorations by Ernest H. Shepard. London: Methuen & Co., [1926].

First edition. Small octavo (7 1/2 x 5 inches; 190 x 127 mm.). xi, [5], 158, [2] pp. Numerous text illustrations.

Publisher's dark green cloth, gilt ruled front cover pictorially stamped in gilt, spine lettered in gilt, pictorial endpapers, top edge gilt. Slight discoloration from jacket on free-endpapers. Neat near contemporary ink name and date "January 11th 1927" on front blank. A near fine copy. In the original yellow-colored pictorial dust jacket printed in dark blue. Jacket spine with minimal browning and minimal wear to head and tail of spine with no loss of text.

[And:]

MILNE, A[lan] A[lexander]. Now We Are Six. With Decorations by Ernest H. Shepard. London: Methuen & Co., [1927].

First edition. Small octavo (7 1/2 x 5 inches; 190 x 127 mm.). x, [2], 103, [1] pp. Numerous text illustrations.

Publisher's maroon cloth, gilt ruled front cover pictorially stamped in gilt, spine lettered in gilt, pink pictorial endpapers, top edge gilt. Minimal rubbing to corners and spine extremities. A near fine copy. In the original pale green-colored pictorial dust jacket printed in dark blue. Jacket spine with minimal browning and a small chip to head of spine with no loss of text.

[And:]

MILNE, A[lan] A[lexander]. The House at Pooh Corner. With Decorations by Ernest H. Shepard. London: Methuen & Co., [1928].

First edition. Small octavo (7 1/2 x 5 inches; 190 x 127 mm.). xi, [1, blank], 178, [2] pp. Numerous text illustrations.
Publisher's salmon cloth gilt ruled front cover pictorially stamped in gilt, spine lettered in gilt, pictorial endpapers, top edge gilt. Minimal discoloration from jacket on free-endpapers. Original peach pictorial endpapers printed in black. A near fine copy in the original salmon pictorial dust jacket printed in dark blue. Jacket spine with minimal browning and one tiny chip to tail of spine and one very small (3/8 inch) closed neat tape repair to lower back panel with no loss of text.

A near fine and quite wonderful set of this 'Children's Classic' housed together in a pale orange cloth clamshell case with printed label on spine.

Alan Alexander Milne (1882-1956) was an English writer who was best known for his children's stories about the adventures of Winnie-the-Pooh. After attending the University of Cambridge's Trinity College and writing for the literary magazines Granta and Punch, Milne began a successful career as a novelist, poet and playwright in the 1920s. His best-known works are his two collections of children's poetry, When We Were Young and Now We Are Six, and his two books of stories about the lovable bear Winnie-the-Pooh and his animal friends. 

Ernest Howard Shepard (1879-1976) was an English artist and book illustrator. He is known especially for illustrations of the anthropomorphic animal and soft toy characters in The Wind in the Willows and The Pooh Books. Throughout the first world war he had been contributing to Punch. He was hired as a regular staff cartoonist in 1921 and became lead cartoonist in 1945. Shepard was recommended to A. A. Milne in 1923 by another Punch staffer, E. V. Lucas. Milne initially thought Shepard's style was not what he wanted, but used him to illustrate the book of poems When We Were Very Young. Happy with the results, Milne then insisted Shepard illustrate Winnie-the-Pooh, Now we Are Six and The House at Pooh Corner. Realizing his illustrator's contribution to the book's success, the writer arranged for Shepard to receive a share of his royalties. Shepard modeled Pooh not on the toy owned by Milne's son Christopher Robin but on "Growler", a stuffed bear owned by his own son. His Pooh work is so famous that 300 of his preliminary sketches were exhibited at the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1969, when he was 90 years old.