AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED (ALS) Weeks Before the Publication of WINNIE-THE-POOH

(London), 29 September 1926. Letter. Crease from mailing otherwise Fine. 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.