Winnie The Pooh, Now We Are Six, House at Pooh Corner When We Were Very Young

London: Methuen and Co, 1926-29. Fine Binding. Very Good. 7.5" by 5". Ernest H Shepard. A beautifully bound set of A A Milne's classic children's works featuring his anthropomorphic bear Winnie the Pooh. From the library of Julian's Park, which was once home to the Socialite Audrey Pleydell-Bouverie. Comprising early editions of these works. 'Winnie The Pooh' is a second edition of 1926;  'House at Pooh Corner' is a third edition of 1929; 'When We Were Very Young' is a Nineteenth Edition of 1929,  'Now We Are Six' is a fifth edition of 1929. Milne was a prolific author and is now best-remembered for his creation of Winnie-The-Pooh and his many friends. This set of best selling works comprises of the first volume of stories solely regarding Pooh, 'Winnie-The-Pooh', and two poetry collections, 'Now We Are Six' and 'When We Were Very Young'. 'Now We are Six' contains thirty-five verses, eleven of which are accompanied by illustrations featuring Winnie-The-Pooh. 'When We Were Very Young' contains forty-four poems, including 'Teddy Bear' which, upon its initial publication in 'Punch' magazine, was the first literary appearance of Winnie-The-Pooh. The introduction to 'When We Were Very Young' implies that the narrator may be Christopher Robin.These works are illustrated by E H Shepard, a popular twentieth century illustrator whose pen and ink drawings were featured in all of Milne's works.Bound by Sangorski and Sutcliffe, with their binder's stamp to the front pastedown. All volumes are in a half calf binding, with gilt tooled silhouettes of the characters Winnie The Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore, Owl, Rabbit and Piglet to the spines.  The boards are covered in charming paper which has a repeated animal motif. This same paper is used for the endpapers.  Pleydell-Bouverie was a close friend of Stanley Bray, who worked at the firm for over 60 years. He often bound books for her as gifts. From the library at Julians Park, the former home of Audrey Pleydell-Bouverie (Audrey Evelyn James Coats, and Audrey Evelyn James Field). Pleydell-Bouverie was the youngest daughter of an Anglo-American lumber and steel millionaire. Audrey was also alleged to be the illegitimate granddaughter of King Edward VII, although she was also rumoured to be his daugher, or the lover of King Edward VIII.  She bought Julians Park in 1940 following her third marriage to the Hon Peter Pleydell-Bouverie. Audrey was a patron of the arts and it is believed that she bound several books herself, as many books from her library were stamped with her name and she owned a group of bookbinding tools. Her circle of friends included Winston Churchill, Coco Chanel and Nancy Mitford. She was featured in Cecil Beaton's 'Book of Beauty' and was regarded as one of the Bright Young Things. In a half calf binding with paper covered boards. Externally, very smart with light rubbing to the spines and extremities. Fading to the spine of 'When We Were Very Young'. Binder's stamp to the verso of front endpaper, 'Sangorski and Sutcliffe'. Internally, all volumes are firmly bound. Pages are bright with occasional light spots. Very Good