Beschreibung:

MILNE, Alan Alexander (1882-1956). When We Were Very Young . London: Methuen & Co., 1924.
MILNE, Alan Alexander (1882-1956). When We Were Very Young . London: Methuen & Co., 1924. 4° (225 x 180mm). Illustrations throughout by Ernest H. Shepard. (Yapp edges lightly yellowed.) Original cloth-backed boards, printed label on the front cover (spine lightly soiled, corners lightly rubbed, endpapers lightly spotted, pastedowns with slight bubbling); original printed dust jacket (spine browned and chipped at the head, smaller chips at the corners, edges creased and with short tears and small chips, light soiling). Provenance : A.A. Milne (letter presenting the book to:) -- 'Nancy'. [ With :] -- Autograph letter signed ('A.A. Milne'), on Mallord Street letterhead, the house number changed in manuscript to '13', dated 24 November 1924, one page, 8vo , laid in. FIRST EDITION, NUMBER 1 OF 100 DELUXE COPIES SIGNED BY MILNE AND SHEPARD. WITH A FINE LETTER FROM MILNE PRESENTING THE BOOK to the recipient on her wedding day. Milne recalls 'when I was very young we gave one of our house masters a wedding present -- an electro-plated tea-tray. Casting me rapid and dazzled glance at it, he said "I thank you from the bottom of my heart; not only for its intrinsic value which must be enormous, but for the feelings which prompted it". What he said when he got it home [...] is not recorded. The tea-tray was not unique [...] the enclosed is, if it is nothing else, for it is the first copy printed. That and "the feelings which prompted it" may give it a value in your eyes'. Upon publication The Times declared it 'THE GREATEST CHILDREN'S BOOK SINCE ALICE ' (quoted in Thwaite). Thwaite, A.A. Milne: his life , p.286. (2)