Winnie-the-Pooh. by MILNE, A. A - 1926: Decorations by Ernest H. Shepard.

London: Methuen & Co.,, 1926. The most luxurious and exclusive format Signed extra limited edition, number 7 of 20 large paper copies, printed on Japanese vellum and bound in vellum, signed by both the author and illustrator. This is the most luxurious and exclusive issue of the various formats issued of the first editions of A. A. Milne's Winnie-the-Pooh books.
After the huge success of When We Were Very Young, published in 1924, Milne was asked to contribute a story to the London Evening News. "The Wrong Sort of Bees", published on Christmas Eve 1925, was based on a bedtime story that Milne had told his son Christopher. It featured Christopher's teddy bear, bought at Harrods for Christopher's first birthday, known initially as Edward or Edward Bear and later renamed Winnie-the-Pooh (after a favourite bear cub at London zoo).
Winnie-the-Pooh was an immediate success and garnered even more enthusiastic reviews than its predecessor. It was published in the UK in three issues: the present extra limited issue of 20 copies bound in vellum, a limited issue of 350 copies on large paper, and a regular trade issue. This is the first title of the series to be issued in this format: there was no equivalent issue of the first book, When We Were Very Young (1924), as the magnitude of its success had not been anticipated. Quarto. Original full stiff vellum with yapp edges, front cover lettered in gilt. Housed in a custom black morocco folding box. Illustrated throughout by E. H. Shepard, folding map at end. Covers bowed, slight bubbling to fixed endpapers, some minor marks to front free endpaper, some minor browning; a very good copy with unopened gatherings. John R. Payne, "Four Children's Books by A. A. Milne", Studies in Bibliography, Vol. 23, 1970, pp. 127-39, item IIC.