The Pooh Collection
Winnie the Pooh. One of children's all time favourite beloved fictional characters, and a name that is synonymous with most people's childhoods. First appearing in 1924 it is a story that has stood the test of time, being passed down through generations and reprinted numerous times, later being adopted by Disney to appear on television and in films.
But where did it all start? In 1924 A. A. Milne published what is now known to be the first 'Pooh' book, although only featuring one poem about the bear. Two years later followed Winnie-the-Pooh, a collection of stories about the character and his friends: Christopher Robin, Piglet, Eeyore, Kanga and Baby Roo, Owl and Rabbit. The success of this inspired two further publications within the next two years, Now We Are Six - another book of poems similar to the first but with more based on Pooh and his friends, and The House at Pooh Corner. Today these books are frequently sold as sets, despite actually originally being published as individual titles.
Inspiration for the character and stories came to the author through the telling of bedtime stories to his son, Christopher Robin Milne. As most parents will know, children are most rapt when it comes to imaginative stories when it revolves around themselves as central character. Hence 'Christopher Robin' the little boy who owns Winnie-the-Pooh and keeps him out of too much mischief. Winnie-the-Pooh was a yellow bear of Christopher Milne's and many of the other characters were inspired by the rest of his collection of stuffed animals. Even the location where the stories take place known as The Hundred Acre Wood is in fact based on Ashdown Forest, a place frequented by A.A. Milne and his family.
Once these tales advanced to the written form the key to popularity was to delight and open other children's imaginations to the same extent as his sons. The answer to this lay a large part with E.H. Shepard, a gentleman who's simple yet iconic drawings were believed to be such a large part of Winnie-the-Pooh's success that Milne arranged for Shepard to receive a share of the royalties. Even today his illustrations are easily recognisable, and just last year an original ink illustrations of Pooh Sticks Bridge sold at Sotheby's for a record breaking £314,500.
Nowadays Winnie the Pooh books are still being reprinted but to many people nothing beats the original early publications. The wide range of people that purchase Pooh books is unrivalled by most; whether it be as a one off for christening or birthday presents, for private collections, or even as an investment 'for the grandkids'. The early editions are easily recognisable by the same format of cloth boards, with a simple gilt illustration to the front and gilt titles to the spine. Even better are those in the original dustcovers, hard to find well preserved almost a century later, nevertheless they do surface from time to time and always to the great delight of collectors.
We are proud to be able to offer an impressive collection of Pooh books in varying editions, including first editions and early examples in original dustcovers. Please see the link below to view our stock or alternatively make a day trip to the attractive market town of Stamford and visit us in our shop.
http://www.stmarysbooks.com/search/
To see our previous spotlights please use the link below:
http://www.stmarysbooks.com/information/38/spotlight+index/
