A.A. Milne Winnie the Pooh Manuscript Archive - E.H Shepard, Now We Are Six

An Archive of Manuscripts by A. A. Milne, E. H. Shepard, and Frederick Muller, relating to the production of Now We Are Six and The Christopher Robin Birthday Book, including A. A. Milne’s autograph manuscript with drawings of Winnie the Pooh and Eeyore.

 

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ITEM ONE: A.A. Milne Autograph Letter to Frederick Muller, with His Reply Letter

 

An autograph letter signed with initials by A. A. Milne to Frederick Muller, written on Mallord Street headed notepaper, one side, 8vo. The letter is dated in the top left “I.VII.27,” seemingly in Muller’s hand. In Milne’s own hand, it reads:

“Dear Muller, I’m sorry but I can’t come tomorrow after all; so will you make up the pages – pasting very lightly – and send them to me; or, alternatively, send pulls of drawings, & words to me (and the blank pages) and let me make it up – mr wick-cud? You will be glad to hear that I have decided to let In the Dark go in, as late as it likes, so we needn’t bother about it.”

The letter is accompanied by a typed reply from Frederick Muller to Milne, dated 1st July 1927, on thin typewriter paper, responding to the above. Muller writes:

“My dear Milne. I enclose either paste-ups or actual proofs of 17 poems for Now We Are Six, making in all 47 pages. There are still to be sent to you King Hilary, In the Dark, Waiting at the Window, Swing Song, Explained, The End, Pinkle Purr, [and] Cradle Song. I am afraid I may not get these off until next week because the proofs of the pictures have not come in yet. // As far as I can tell, the book will not make so many pages as we were originally reckoning on. The printers have made up the first 32 pages, and I enclose 47 pages: allowing an average of two pages each for the poems which still have to be done, this gives us a total of 95 pages for the text, which together with 16 pages for prelims, only makes 111. Possibly I am under-estimating the last poems, because King Hilary is one of them, and I know this is long. The book may possibly come to something like 120 pages, but even so it is rather short. // Please arrange the poems enclosed in the order in which they should appear, bearing in mind that in one or [two] cases it is necessary that a certain order is to be followed. For instance, the first two pages of Little Black Hen must face one another, and the two pages of the Little Engineer must face one another. Yours sincerely.”

The two letters were long kept together with a rusted paperclip, which has left slight staining. The original paperclip is extant and included, but has now been removed from the pages. The A. A. Milne letter shows light creasing to the left-hand side and a faint offset from the clip but is otherwise in fine condition. Muller’s typed reply is toned, with more prominent staining from the paperclip, together with a small additional mark not obscuring the text and a few short edge tears; overall it remains very good.

 

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ITEM TWO: E.H. Shepard Autograph Letter to Frederick Muller

 

A letter in the hand of E. H. Shepard, unsigned, addressed to Frederick Muller and written on Red Cottage headed paper (Shepard’s address). Formed as a small booklet, it comprises three pages of manuscript text (with one side blank). Dated 12th June 1927 in Shepard’s hand, it bears a dated stamp of 13th June 1927 with the word “arrived” written in pencil above, presumably in Muller’s hand. The letter reads:

“Dear Muller, Herewith drawings in Little Black Hen (5), Buttercup Days (2), In the Dark (2), A Thought (1). I have two more for In the Dark which will follow, with others, on Wednesday. // I send on a copy of huiluis(?) not to show you what drawings I have in hand for the remaining poems. // Little Black Hen 5 drawings, King Hilary 5, Forgotten 4, In the Dark 4, Forgiven 4, Twice Times 3, Explained 3, Come Out With Me 2, Buttercup Days 2, Cherry Stones 2, The End 1. // You will probably have changed the order in which they are to come, with him. If you will let me know this I will finish them off like it, so as to simplify things for you. // Thank heaven I have a pretty clear week ahead, last was awful as I had to do the Aldershot Tattoo in Punch. // I am doing King Hilary again from my previous sketches. I have not got a copy of the MSS. I would be glad of it – could you please send it along.”

 

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ITEM THREE: A.A. Milne's Autograph Pre-Proof Manuscript for The Christopher Robin Birthday Book

A. A. Milne’s autograph pre-proof manuscript for The Christopher Robin Birthday Book, signed by A.A. Milne and dated 3rd July 1930. Comprising twelve pages (seven pages of writing) on six unstapled folded sheets of paper, this extraordinary manuscript features Milne’s handwritten quotations from Winnie the Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner, together with exceptionally scarce original drawings of Winnie the Pooh and Eeyore in Milne’s own hand.

This is a uniquely significant literary manuscript. While E. H. Shepard was, of course, the illustrator of the Pooh books, it is virtually unheard of in commerce to encounter Milne’s own sketches of his beloved characters. Here, one gains a rare and intimate insight into how Milne personally visualised the figures that had already captured the world’s imagination.

The manuscript represents the earliest stage of The Christopher Robin Birthday Book as it was being prepared for publication, written entirely in Milne’s hand and sent to his publisher. At its opening, Milne provides instructions regarding the book’s layout and typography, including the directive: “Study this lay-out for general style, weight of type…”

Within the manuscript, Milne quotes from The House at Pooh Corner on three occasions: “Oh that’s who it is, is it?”; “It doesn’t seem to matter if I don’t get any fatter (and I don’t get any fatter) What I do.”; and “He talks about sensible things.” From Winnie-the-Pooh he cites: “Sad? Why should I be sad?”

One bifolium, covering the dates 1st-4th January, includes these quotations alongside Milne’s sketches of Pooh and Eeyore, with references to the pages of Winnie the Pooh from which the drawings were copied.

 

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Provenance:

From the estate of Frederick Muller of Methuen & Co, the publisher for the Winnie the Pooh book series; by descent to Leslie Smith who had a lifelong career in the publishing industry.

 

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