Morocco bookplate to When We Were Very Young. Original blue, green, red, or pink cloth, spines lettered in gilt, front covers with pictorial designs and ruled borders in gilt, top edges gilt. Ann Thwaite, The Brilliant Career of Winnie-the-Pooh, 1992. '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. The final book, The House at Pooh Corner, was received by critics with a delight tinged by sadness. Now We Are Six followed in 1927, and took just two months to eclipse the sales records of the previous two books. Winnie-the-Pooh (1926) was an immediate success and garnered even more enthusiastic reviews than its predecessor.

It starred Christopher's teddy bear, bought at Harrods for Christopher's first birthday, known initially as Edward or Edward Bear, and later renamed Winnie-the-Pooh (after a favourite bear cub at London zoo).

'The Wrong Sort of Bees', published on Christmas Eve 1925, was based on a bedtime story that Milne had told his son Christopher. After the huge success of When We Were Very Young, published in 1924, Milne was asked to contribute a story to the London Evening News. The dust jacket for Winnie-the-Pooh is in the first state with '117th Thousand' on the rear flap. When We Were Very Young is in the second state of the first impression with the page number ix present, as usual, in the preliminaries. These four volumes comprise a full set of the Pooh books. The first volume is signed by the author on the title page. First editions, first impressions, of these timeless classics of children's literature.

When we were very young book