[Complete set of the Pooh Books:]: When We Were Very Young; Winnie-the-Pooh; Now We Are Six; The House at Pooh Corner.

London: Methuen & Co. Ltd, , 1924-8. Attractively bound with pictorial morocco onlays First editions, first impressions, of these timeless classics of children's literature. When We Were Very Young is in the second state of the first impression with the page number ix present in the preliminaries. These four volumes comprise a full set of the Pooh books and are presented in beautiful bindings by Bayntun (Riviere) of Bath. The illustrations rendered in coloured onlays comprise: Christopher Robin on the stairs ("Halfway Down") (see p. 80 of When We Were Very Young), Winnie-the-Pooh outside his home ("under the name of Sanders") (see p. 3 of Winnie-the-Pooh), Christopher Robin in his garden ("Solitude") (see p. 1 of When We Were Very Young), and Christopher Robin eating an apple ("what does Christopher Robin think about it?") (see p. 105 of The House at Pooh Corner). 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 Wrong Sort of Bees", published on Christmas Eve 1925, was based on a bedtime story that Milne had told his son Christopher. 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). Winnie-the-Pooh (1926) was an immediate success and garnered even more enthusiastic reviews than its predecessor. Now We Are Six followed in 1927, and took just two months to eclipse the sales records of the previous two books. The final book, The House at Pooh Corner, was received by critics with a delight tinged by sadness. "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. 336). Four works, octavo (180 x 115 mm). Bound in red morocco by Bayntun (Riviere), signed on front turn-ins, spine with raised bands and lettered in gilt, front covers with illustrations after E. H. Shepard in coloured onlays, covers with gilt fillet borders, gilt edges, gilt turn-ins, marbled endpapers, original cloth bound in at end together with original pictorial endpapers when issued. Housed in a custom red cloth slipcase. Illustrated throughout by E. H. Shepard. Spines very slightly sunned, minor browning to the top of a few leaves in The House at Pooh Corner, some leaves lightly toned, slipcase rubbed at extremities; a near-fine and attractive set. Ann Thwaite, A. A. Milne: His Life, 1990.