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

London: Methuen & Co.,, 1926. Signed by both author and illustrator; together with an autograph letter Signed limited edition, number 141 of 350 large paper copies signed by Milne and Shepard, printed on handmade paper. Limited signed editions of the first Winnie-the-Pooh story book are increasingly scarce. This copy includes an autograph letter signed by Milne discussing a publishing agreement, a contribution to a periodical, an injury, and his wonder at the value of limited editions. 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 starred 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 (1926) was an immediate success and garnered even more enthusiastic reviews than its predecessor. It was published in the UK in three issues: an extra limited issue of 20 copies bound in vellum, the present 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. This copy includes an autograph letter signed to George Henry Grubb (1875-1934), a director of the publishing firm of Putnam and Co. in London. Milne writes with reference to a publishing agreement (presumably for Three Plays) and states that he is "afraid that the amateur rights must be left in the hands of Samuel French". He admits to having "let myself in for many too many Christmas numbers" and therefore declines an invitation to contribute to the magazine Tit-Bits. Milne regrets not having written before but explains he had "idiotically twisted my inside, playing with Bill and tore some muscles: with the result that I've been strapped up for the last week, and felt too uncomfortable to do anything but lean against cushions and read... a cough or a sneeze or a laugh is agony, so I avoid draughts of humorous books". Milne concludes by asking "did you see in the Times last week that a copy of the limited edition of W[hen] W[e] W[ere] V[ery] Y[oung] went for £53. The record so far." Small quarto. Original dark blue cloth-backed blue paper covered boards, front cover with paper label lettered in black, edges untrimmed. With dust jacket. Together with an undated autograph note signed ("A.A. Milne") from Milne to G. H. Grubb, 1 leaf (190 x 140 mm), headed notepaper ("13, Mallord Street, Chelsea, S.W.3.") Illustrated throughout by E. H. Shepard, folding map at end. Corners bumped, browning to free endpapers, gatherings unopened, some slight foxing to top edge; a near-fine copy. Extremities of dust jacket worn with loss to head and foot of spine, covers and spine toned; a good example of the jacket. Light browning to letter, together with removed staple holes; a near-fine letter. John R. Payne, "Four Children's Books by A. A. Milne", Studies in Bibliography, Vol. 23, 1970, pp. 127-39, item IIB.