Showrooms

Now We Are Six by A.A. Milne, Illustrated by Ernest H. Shephard

Creator: A.A Milne
Offered by: The Great Republic

Description
Milne, A.A. Now We Are Six. New York: E. P. Dutton, 1827. First American Trade Edition. Illustrated by Ernest Shepard. Octavo. In the publisher's original orange cloth boards, stamped in gilt, original unclipped dust jacket, and presented with a new archival ¼ leather and cloth clamshell case.

Presented is the first American trade edition of A. A. Milne’s iconic children’s poems, Now We Are Six. This collection of verses was published by E. P. Dutton & Co in New York, in 1927. It is presented here in the publisher’s original gilt-stamped orange cloth boards, original unclipped dust jacket, and filled with E. H. Shepard’s charming illustrations. The book is now protected in a custom, archival ¼ leather and cloth clamshell. This is a desirable and scarce edition of Milne’s collection of poems.

A. A. Milne (1882–1956) and Ernest H. Shepard (1879–1976) were the author and illustrator of the Winnie the Pooh books. Before Pooh, Alan Alexander Milne had a thriving career as a humorist and playwright. In 1904, shortly after graduating from Cambridge, he published his first piece in Punch, and by 1906 was an assistant editor. His plays and novels, including the popular detective story The Red House Mystery, were enormously successful. Ernest Howard Shepard showed aptitude for drawing from an early age. While attending the Royal Academy Schools he began submitting illustrations to magazines, and this gradually became his primary occupation. In 1906 Punch accepted his drawings for the first time, and he became a regular contributor by 1914.

In 1924, A. A. Milne had written a series of children’s verses for Punch and Shepard was suggested as the illustrator. The artist’s drawings had an instant appeal, and the verses and illustrations were published the same year in book form as When We Were Very Young. When We Were Very Young is the first and the scarcest of the four Pooh books with an initial print run of 5,175 regular trade copies. It was first published in London on November 6, 1924 to immense acclaim, and the first printing sold out in one day. By the end of the year more than 53,000 copies had been printed of what The Times called "the greatest children's book since Alice" (Thwaite, p. 286).

After the huge success of When We Were Very Young, Milne was asked to contribute a story to the London Evening News. "The Wrong Sort of Bees", published on Christmas Eve in 1925, was based on a bedtime story that Milne had told his son Christopher. It starred Christopher's stuffed bear, which had made his first public appearance in the poem "Teddy Bear," published in Punch in 1924 and later in When We Were Very Young. Winnie-the-Pooh was first published in London on October 14, 1926 in an edition of 30,000 regular trade copies. The book was an immediate success and garnered even more enthusiastic reviews than its predecessor, with one critic writing, "When the real Christopher Robin is a little old man, children will find him waiting for them. It is the child's book of the season that seems certain to stay" (Thwaite p. 317).

By the time that Winnie-the-Pooh was published in late 1926, half the poems for this third book, Now We Are Six, were already complete. Now We Are Six was first published in London on October 13, 1927.

Now We Are Six was a stylistic deviation from its predecessor Winnie-the-Pooh; it is a collection of thirty-five verses instead of short stories. Although varied in themes, many of the poems are still a part of the larger Winnie-the-Pooh imaginative world, with references to the Hundred Acre Woods and characters throughout. Only a few of the poems feature Pooh, yet he appears in eleven of Shepard's illustrations. In the introduction, Milne addresses this change: "Pooh wants us to say that he thought it was a different book; and he hopes you won't mind, but he walked through it one day, looking for his friend Piglet, and sat down on some of the pages by mistake." The collection was well received by critics and the public alike. It took only two months for Now We Are Six to eclipse the sales records of the previous two books.

Published on October 11, 1928, The House at Pooh Corner, the final collection of Pooh stories, rounded out the iconic and now very collectible series. Though both men continued producing work for adults, the four Pooh books established Milne and Shepard as one of the most important partnerships in children’s literature.

CONDITION:

Good condition overall. 8vo. Original publisher’s gilt-stamped orange cloth boards, with some light wear to extremities and hinges. Original unclipped dust jacket. Dust jacket has vertical creasing to the spine and rear flap with tape repairs on the verso, very faint stains and surface wear. Mostly clean interior, with some light toning. Numerous illustrations by Shepard.

Protected in a new archival ¼ leather and cloth clamshell, with raised bands, gilt stamps and titles to spine, and a gilt-stamped Winnie the Pooh and Piglet illustration to the front and interior of the case.

Accompanied by our company's letter of authenticity.

More Information

Documentation:	Signed
Period:	1920-1949
Condition:	Good.
Styles / Movements:	Modern
Incollect Reference #:	748862

Message from Seller:

Established in 2010, The Great Republic specializes in one-of-a-kind collectibles that honor American history, with a special focus on the rare and unique. Our collection is complete with rarities that are sure to wow, such as first edition books, antique hand-sewn flags from the Civil War, vintage travel posters, and original signatures from American presidents, such as George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, just to name a few. P: 719.471.6157 E: headquarters@great-republic.com