When We Were Very Young.

New York: E. P. Dutton & Co.,, 1924. One of 100 signed copies from the American deluxe issue First US edition, deluxe limited issue, number 54 of 100 copies signed by the author, printed on large paper, and bound in pictorial boards. A further 400 deluxe copies were issued unsigned and unnumbered; the trade issue was in red cloth on smaller paper. When We Were Very Young was first published in London 14 days before the US edition. When We Were Very Young was the first of the Winnie-the-Pooh books, introducing Christopher Robin and Pooh. Milne had no particular ambition to write for children, but in 1922 a glimpse of his two-year-old son Christopher being taught to pray by his nanny inspired him to compose the verse "Vespers", a gently ironic take on the innocence of childhood intended for an adult readership, which was published in Vanity Fair in January 1923. The verse proved popular, and Milne was asked to contribute to The Merry-Go-Round, a new periodical for children. The success of these pieces led him to consider writing further verses for children, and he composed most of When We Were Very Young as entertainment during a dreary holiday in Wales. Many of the poems first ran as weekly instalments in Punch, charmingly illustrated by fellow contributor E. H. Shepard. When We Were Very Young was first published in Britain to immediate and 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). Octavo. Original green cloth-backed pictorial boards, spine lettered in gilt, pictorial endpapers, top edge blue, others uncut. Illustrated throughout by E. H. Shepard. Bookplate to front pastedown. Extremities worn, some soiling to front cover and spine, slight browning throughout but clean; a good copy. Ann Thwaite, A. A. Milne: His Life, 1990.