Lost in a Good Book

It is well known that Milne’s Winnie the Pooh stories were inspired by his son’s stuffed toys. The small collection were played with by Christopher Robin who used to make up stories and voices for each of them, giving his father the idea to create stories from them.

An interesting fun fact is that when Shepard first illustrated Milne’s poems, he hadn’t seen the bear in which the poems were based on, so he instead based his design on his own son’s bear, Growler. This remained through all the stories, even after Shephard had seen the original toys.

Another fun fact I read was that Eeyore was made gloomy in the stories because of how the toy looked. The stuffing and support around the neck was failing and it made his head droopy. This led to Milne making Eeyore gloomy with his head hanging low. If his head was raised more we may have had an entirely different Eeyore!

The toys have become almost as famous as the stories, with the original Harrods purchases being as loved today as they were back when the books were published. The toys have had a fascinating life. After being used for inspiration in Milne’s stories they travelled to America in the 1940s at the request of the publisher who published the American edition back in 1926. Milne sent the toys over and even sent along Winnie the Pooh’s official birth certificate to authenticate him. Pooh was often treated as a VIB (Very Important Bear) when he travelled and he received a lot of attention. The toys were insured for $50 000 USD (over $1M AUD today) and they travelled around the country for an extended period of time.

The collection stayed permanently in the States in 1956, housed in the lobby of the publishers. A few trips were made back to England, once for an exhibition honouring E. H. Shephard’s 90^th birthday, and once to participate in Methuen’s (the UK publisher) 50^th birthday activities.

In 1987 the toys were presented to the New York Public Library. The five toys: Pooh, Eeyore, Piglet, Kanga and Tigger (Roo was lost long ago), were placed on permanent display, attracting over 750 000 people per year. Interestingly, in 1998 a British MP named Gwenyth Dunwody raised the issue to have the toys returned to Britain, but after a few days of hype and drama the topic vanished and no changes were made. It’d be interesting to learn if there was a reason the toys weren’t returned, or at least borrowed for a period of time.

 The toys are still in New York on display. They were recently restored back to near original condition; holes were sewn and patches placed over worn bits. It must have been a very stressful task, I can only imagine if something went wrong the trouble you would be in. The repairs took more than a year and were done by a textile conservator. It’s rather incredible that the toys have lasted so long, though with the early and impressive fame of Pooh and the rest the toys have been cared for from the very early days.

You can see in some of the pictures from the New York Public Library the condition the toys were in before being repaired. They look almost brand new again and ready to last another 95 years. The repairs included neck alignment, clavicle repair, snout adjustments, protective mesh, and something delightful called butt steaming and fluffing which I love, all of which helped restore the dolls to their original selves. Eeyore was the hardest, he had the most work and he was the oldest, but even he looks as good as new after nearly every patch on him removed, cleaned and resewn on again.

I love seeing pictures of the original toys. One day I may be lucky enough to go to the New York library and see them for myself, but until then I’ll have to be satisfied with pictures. Below I’ve added the pictures of what the toys looked like before and after. Some definite improvements I say! You can read more about the restoration here and here.

Before and after pictures of the restoration process

2016 marks the 90th year since the first Winnie the Pooh publication and there is a great deal more to celebrate than just the original Milne stories. A new set of stories, penned by four different authors, is being published to mark the occasion.

The book, entitled The Best Bear in All the World (which is what Christopher Robin calls Pooh Bear), is due to be published by Egmont Publishing on Oct 6th and looks quite good. I have ordered my copy and I am (im)patiently waiting for my delivery, but until such time I am a little excited about this. I’m always a little unsure about new stories of Pooh, but unlike the movies or TV shows that change things around I feel the authorised books stay as true as they can to Milne’s original pieces and illustrator Mark Burgess’ drawings are styled very much like Shepard’s originals.

In this new addition, the focus in on the four seasons, with a tale to match each one by the authors: Paul Bright, Kate Saunders, Jeanne Willis and Brian Sibley. What makes this extra special is that in one of these tales a new character is being introduced to the 100 Acre Woods. Sibley has created a new character Penguin based on a photo he saw of Christopher Robin with a toy penguin. This penguin was also bought at Harrods like all of the toys and Sibley has brought his story to life in his winter tale.

There is a thought from the archivists at Harrods that the penguin in question was  possibly Squeak, one of the many popular penguin toys of the early 20th century and based off of the popular cartoon strip Pip, Squeak, and Wilfred.

For those with any concerns over a penguin being in the 100 Acre Wood I think Sibley sums it up well when he said, “The thought of Pooh encountering a penguin seemed no more outlandish than his meeting a kangaroo and a tiger in a Sussex wood, so I started thinking about what might have happened if, on a rather snowy day, Penguin had found his way to Pooh Corner.” Not to mention the fact that since Christopher Robin had the toy, like he did with the others, then this is a great way to bring in a new character.

No doubt when my copy arrives I will be posting pictures of its prettiness. Just seeing a few of Burgess’ illustrations is making me all warm inside. There is also another special Pooh story that was created specifically for the 90th anniversary, this one coincides with the Queen’s 90th birthday but I will have more on that tomorrow.

Today it is hard not to know about the little yellow bear and his friends in the 100 Acre Woods, and with so many decades of media, stories, and merchandise the bear of very little brain has crossed over generations and has been loved by millions of children.

E. H. Shepard’s design

The image of Pooh that Disney has produced has been transformed from Milne’s original creation; certainly the look of Pooh and his friends have changed from E. H. Shepard’s gorgeous illustrations. His transformation is not new though as there were a few changes even back in the beginning before we got the bear we know today.

The character of Winnie the Pooh didn’t actually make his debut in the 1926 book Winnie the Pooh. Before publishing the book Milne had been publishing stories and poems in a variety of magazines such as Punch, Vanity Fair, and St Nicholas Magazine. Not yet named, the bear makes an appearance in a poem entitled ‘Teddy Bear’ which was published in Punch in February 1924. The first time the name Pooh appears is in a story published in the London Evening News on Christmas Eve in 1925 under the title “The Wrong Sort Of Bees”. This story is actually reprinted as the first story of the book collection.

The bear itself was purchased in 1921 by Christopher Robin’s mother, Daphne, from Harrods department store in London. Originally called Edward Bear the name Winnie the Pooh has a two part origin, ‘Winnie’ Christopher Robin got from a black bear he loved at London zoo, and the ‘Pooh’ part was named after a swan. There is an ongoing fact saying this is referenced in Milne’s poem ‘The Mirror’ but this poem, the only one that mentions a swan, doesn’t mention Pooh at all. It is only in the introduction that Milne mentions that Christopher Robin called the swan mentioned in the poem, Pooh.

Slesinger’s design on a 1930s board game

With a name change in his past, Pooh also undertook a few design changes. From Shepard’s original drawings the now well-known Pooh design was adapted by Disney from the design created by Stephen Slesinger which he created in the 1930s. Slesinger acquired the US and Canadian rights to Winnie the Pooh in the 1930s from Milne and was responsible for the commercialisation of Pooh for more than 30 years. When Disney was granted the rights to certain aspects of Pooh in the 1960s the design was adopted as well.

Disney’s well known design

The many beginnings of Milne’s work make a good argument for the true first appearance of Pooh but as it stands 1926 and the publication of Winnie the Pooh is the recognised anniversary. At 90 years old it doesn’t matter exactly where Pooh Bear came into the world, he has cemented himself in it now that there’s no chance of him disappearing any time soon.

Winnie the Pooh is a story known by adults and kids alike and loved for generations. This October marks the 90^th anniversary since A. A. Milne published his story and it’s an amazing journey that the little bear has gone through over the years. Winnie the Pooh was first introduced to the world back in 1926 through numerous short adventures that Milne told in the book entitled Winnie the Pooh. Following Pooh’s adventures in the mythical 100 Acre Woods more characters are introduced and the little band of friends we know today are revealed.

I have always loved Winnie the Pooh, I loved the movies, I loved the TV show, I loved the stories and the characters and I loved anything that had Winnie the Pooh on it. As I’ve gotten older of course I have scaled back my love a little, I don’t need as much “stuff” and my appreciation for the original stories has grown exponentially. Because of this I of course couldn’t ignore the 90^th anniversary and like His Dark Materials last year, I am dedicating this month to all things Winnie the Pooh. Over the month I will be sharing reviews, fun facts, a little history about the origin of Winnie the Pooh and a few other fun bits that I am looking forward to sharing.

I am so glad October has finally arrived; I have been looking forward to this month for ages, ever since I thought of the idea months ago. Looking around the internet I know I am not the only one celebrating which is great to see, and with the Queen also celebrating her 90^th birthday there are some great crossovers (more on that later). In addition to the original story, I am also going to look at the sequel, House at Pooh Corner and the poem collection Now We Are Six. I know it isn’t their anniversaries but I think one cannot discuss Winnie the Pooh without discussing ALL of Winnie the Pooh.

I’m sure I will learn something I didn’t previously know, and I know already I am going to have a lot of fun exploring the history and world of Pooh and friends. By the end of the month my little celebration will hopefully be a nice commemoration showing my appreciation and love for Milne and his stories, and of course the bear himself! I’m also hoping the followers I retained after flooding everyone with His Dark Materials last year will not now flee with an oncoming flood of Winnie the Pooh. But of course, that would never happen because everyone loves that delightful bear of very little brain. How could you not?