MILNE, A. A.; E. H. SHEPARD, illustrator.
The House at Pooh Corner.
London, Methuen & Co., 1928.
8vo, pp. xi, [1 (blank)], 178, [2]; with illustrations throughout by E. H. Shepard; tears to inner margin of pp. 3-6, occasional minor spots or stains, but a good copy; in publisher’s pink cloth, with gilt vignette of Christopher Robin, Pooh, and Piglet to front board, spine lettered in gilt, top-edge gilt, pictorial endpapers by E. H. Shepard, in the original fawn printed dust-jacket; jacket dusty and a little worn, a few nicks and chips at extremities with a small loss at head of spine, cloth bright and fresh.
First edition, first impression, of A. A. Milne’s classic final collection of tales about Winnie the Pooh and friends, and the first introduction of Tigger.
The much-beloved work by Milne (1882–1956), the fourth and final Pooh book, details the adventures of Pooh, Christopher Robin, and the residents of the Hundred Acre Wood. The volume is charmingly illustrated throughout with the iconic figures of E. H. Shepard. For the first time, Tigger features amongst the merry band, partaking in the original game of Poohsticks. The book closes with Christopher Robin’s departure for boarding school, following in the footsteps of his real-life counterpart and inspiration; yet Milne’s introduction (or ‘Contradiction’) to the collection assures the reader, ‘of course, it isn’t really Good-bye, because the Forest will always be there … and anybody who is Friendly with Bears can find it’ (p. x). Milne and Shepard were widely lauded following the publication of the now-classic work. ‘The Times Literary Supplement congratulated Milne on avoiding “the temptation to repeat his successful formula mechanically”, though it was “sad to see the stories end” (Thwaite, p. 336).
See Thwaite, The Brilliant Career of Winnie-the-Pooh (1992).
