[Rarebooks] FS: Fine A. A. Milne Handwritten SIGNED Letter shortly before Publication of WINNIE-THE-POOH

[Charles Agvent]

MILNE, A. A. AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED (ALS) Weeks Before the Publication 
of WINNIE-THE-POOH. (London), 29 September 1926. 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. Crease from mailing 
otherwise Fine.

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. (#021380)        $2,500

https://www.charlesagvent.com/pages/books/021380/a-a-milne/autograph-letter-signed-als-weeks-before-the-publication-of-winnie-the-pooh

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