Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Price: US$3125.00 + shipping
Description: A two-page AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED (ALS) on both sides of 5-1/2" x 7-3/8" personal stationery to "My dear Sir" [Vincent Seligman]. Written just weeks before the publication of Milne's most famous work, WINNIE-THE-POOH. This fine letter offers insight into Milne's sharp sense of humor and includes indirect references to his most famous book. Milne refers to a person in his letter as a "cygnet" (a young swan), a reference which may have been in mind as Winnie The Pooh was a blended name created by Milne, being a combination of the name "Pooh," after a cygnet swan they met on holiday, and "Winnie," a black bear cub he often saw at the London Zoo. There is also a lighthearted poke at his publisher, Methuen. In part: "I have arrived safely at the house to which you sent me, and think that I shall like the situation. I wanted to begin a serial story for the DAILY MAIL at once, but the man here said 'No, there's a letter we must write first,' and I said 'Oh, I see,' and began writing 'Dear Methuen,' but he snatched me away from the paper, and said it wasn't that sort of letter at all, which disappointed me rather because I thought I had got a literary situation. But he promised me we should do some poetry afterwards, and I said 'All right.' And of course when he began 'Dear Vincent,' I said 'Oh, know that man well; let me write the letter, while you get the ink off your hands.' He was terribly pleased with me, and I'm to keep on saying 'Thank you' until I run out of ink. But I really am to say 'Thank you very much. Assuring you, Sir, of my respects, and again thanking you for obtaining me this literary situation which I have always wanted from a cygnet so to speak. Yours faithfull [sic] The Pen. P.S. It was his fault about the ink, not mine. T.P. P.P.P. Now we are going to practise his signature: A. A. Milne. P.P.P.S. He says that's the best he's ever done." A delightful letter. Vincent Seligman was a banker who ran the London bank Seligman Brothers. He and his wife Barbara were close friends of the Milnes. Seligman dedicated his book, OXFORD ODDITIES, to Milne. Crease from mailing otherwise Fine
Seller: Charles Agvent, est. 1987, ABAA, ILAB, Fleetwood, PA, U.S.A.
Price: US$4845.65 + shipping
Description: First edition, first impression, out-of-series copy of 100 copies signed by Milne, Shepard, and Fraser-Simson on the limitation leaf, and additionally inscribed by the publishers for the composer "This is a presentation copy for H. Fraser-Simson, Esq." Harold Fraser-Simson published six volumes of his musical settings of the verse of A. A. Milne and, as noted by Thwaite, "his settings became very familiar through the wireless" (Thwaite, Brilliant Career, p. 61). When the verses for When We Were Very Young first appeared in Punch, Milne was approached by numerous composers wishing to set them to music. He chose Fraser-Simson who was his neighbour in Chelsea and the composer of the phenomenally successful musical The Maid of the Mountains. There would eventually be 67 songs and Milne noted that "the music is exactly right" (Thwaite, p. 272). When Songs from "Now We are Six" was published in 1927, Daphne Milne suggested a sound recording of three of the songs on the HMV label. "Down by the Pond", "The Engineer" and "The Friend" were sung by Christopher Milne, accompanied by the composer. "Us Two" was also recorded, but recited by Christopher without accompaniment. One of Christopher's cousins described the recording as "the unacceptable face of Poohdom" (Thwaite, p. 329), but the record does preserve Christopher Robin performing three of Fraser-Simson's settings of Milne and "giving the performance all he'd got" (Thwaite, p. 329). Ann Thwaite, The Brilliant Career of Winnie-the-Pooh, 1992; Ann Thwaite, A. A. Milne. His Life, 1990. Large octavo. Publisher's blue cloth-backed boards, front cover with paper label lettered in dark blue. Illustrations throughout by E. H. Shepard. Extremities a little worn, some occasional minor foxing, gatherings unopened: a near-fine copy.
Seller: Peter Harrington. ABA/ ILAB., London, United Kingdom