Together 4 volumes, 8vo. Illustrated by Ernest Shephard. Original gilt-decorated cloth, top edges gilt (When We Were Very Young spine leaned and with a small dark area near foot); dust jackets (When We Were Very Young has a small tear to spine with loss and a few tape repairs along front joint; some small chips to heads, a few spines lightly darkened).

FIRST EDITIONS OF THE CHRISTOPHER ROBIN BOOKS. The dust jacket for Winnie-the-Pooh is in the first state with "117th Thousand" on the rear flap. When We Were Very Young is a second issue (as usual) with page ix numbered. Milne began the poems in When We Were Very Young for his son Christopher Robin. They had originally appeared in Punch magazine and, to the shock of Milne and Methuen, the book sold out on publication day. It was an unqualified success, quoted, recited, and parodied everywhere. Milne based the stories of his second major book, Winnie-the-Pooh, on a set of stuffed animals Christopher Robin (called "Billy Moon" in the family) owned. Methuen published Milne's third children's book just two months after Winnie-the-Pooh. The House at Pooh Corner would be the last of the Pooh books. Milne wanted both to stop while the books were selling well: "I have had my thrill out of children's books, and know that I shall never recapture it," and to protect his growing son: "I feel that the legal Christopher Robin has already had more publicity than I want for him. Moreover, since he is growing up, he will soon feel that he has had more publicity than he wants for himself. We all, young and old, hope to make some sort of name, but we want to make it in our own chosen way, and, if possible, by our own exertions" (Thwaite, pp. 338-39). Grolier, One Hundred Books Famous in Children's Literature 71.