The House At Pooh Corner.

MILNE, A.A. Illustrated by Ernest Shepard.

Item Number: 143582

London: Methuen & Co. Ltd, 1928.

First edition of the second book in Milne’s beloved Pooh quartet. Octavo, original publisher’s salmon cloth decorated in gilt, pictorial endpapers, illustrated with decorations by Ernest H. Shepard. Good in a good dust jacket. Ownership name to the front free pictorial endpaper and presentation inscription. Closed tear to pp 5-6.

“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). “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).