A Complete Set of the Pooh Books
London: Methuen & Co. Ltd., 1924-1928. First Editions. 4 vols. When We Were Very Young (1924), first edition, first state without the page number ‘ix’ at the bottom of the contents page, fine in a fine dust jacket with a few light spots of foxing to the rear flap. Winnie-the-Pooh (1926), first edition, first state with “117th Thousand” on the rear flap, fine in a fine dust jacket. Now We Are Six (1927), first edition, first state, fine in a fine jacket without (!) the ever-present fading—this is the finest copy known. The House at Pooh Corner (1928), first edition, first state, fine with some of the typical offsetting to the gutters of the endpapers, in a fine dust jacket. Likely the finest set known, assembled over the course of 25 years by the world’s greatest Milne collector, Pat McInally. Custom morocco box. Fine. Item #1119
What distinguishes Milne's oeuvre is its synthesis of whimsical narrative and understated philosophical inquiry, presenting a nuanced examination of childhood consciousness while maintaining cross-generational appeal. Initially developed from domestic oral narratives created for his son Christopher Robin, these texts rapidly evolved beyond their familial context to attain international literary significance. The collaboration between Milne's restrained prose and Shepard's meticulously complementary visual interpretations established paradigmatic conventions for illustrated children's literature that maintain scholarly relevance approaching their centenary. These publications emerged during the interwar period when British cultural production reflected collective psychological tendencies toward nostalgic idealization and pastoral retreat, contextualizing their immediate commercial and critical reception. The fictional heterocosm of the Hundred Acre Wood and its inhabitants have subsequently achieved sustained canonical status through multiple linguistic translations, intermedial adaptations, and continued academic attention as texts that engage with universal narratological themes of social connection, exploratory experience, and the temporal paradoxes of developmental transition.
Price: $60,000.00