Now We Are Six.
"When I was Five, I was just alive. But now I am Six, I'm as clever as clever, So I think I'll be six now for ever and ever": A. A. Milne's Now We Are Six finely bound by Sangorski and Sutcliffe
Now We Are Six.
MILNE, A. A. Decorations by Ernest Shepard.
$975.00
Item Number: 129436
London: Methuen & Co. Ltd., 1960.
Finely bound example of the third book in Milne’s beloved Pooh series. Octavo, bound in three quarter morocco over marbled boards by Sangorski and Sutcliffe with gilt titles and tooling to the spine in six compartments within raised gilt bands, marbled endpapers, top edge gilt, decorations by Ernest Shepard. In near fine condition.
“Although Alan Alexander Milne wrote novels, short stories, poetry and many plays for adults, in addition to his work as assistant editor for Punch from 1906 to 1914, it is his writings for children that have captured the hearts of millions of people worldwide and granted Milne everlasting fame” (Silvey, 461). Milne wrote most of these poems at the request of friend and fellow poet Rose Fyleman, who was planning a new children’s magazine. “On a rain-blighted holiday in Wales, [Milne] escaped from the crowd of fellow guests to the summerhouse, and for 11 days wrote a set of children’s verses, one each day… ‘There on the other side of the lawn was a child with whom I had lived for three years [his son, Christopher Robin]… and here within me were unforgettable memories of my own childhood.’ He added more verses when he got home, enough for a book, and allowed some to be published in advance in Punch” (Carpenter & Prichard, 351). Shepard, a Punch staff artist at the time, provided delightful line vignettes, resulting in “a wonderful marriage of verse and vision. His delicately precise and fresh drawings had an instant appeal” (DNB).
