Beschreibung:

GRAHAME, Kenneth. The Wind in the Willows. London: Methuen, [1931]. Small 4 o. Illustrated by Ernest H. Shepard. Folding map and extra label at end. Original green cloth-backed boards, printed paper spine label (minor staining, a small abrasion to lower cover); cloth folding case. Provenance : ALAN ALEXANDER MILNE (1882-1956, presentation inscription from Grahame on the limitation leaf). LIMITED EDITION, one of 200 copies signed by Grahame and Shepard, this copy out-of-series. AN IMPORTANT PRESENTATION COPY, INSCRIBED BY GRAHAME TO POOH-AUTHOR A.A. MILNE on the limitation leaf: "This is a presentation copy for A.A. Milne Kenneth Grahame Ernest H. Shepard." This is the first illustrated edition of The Wind in the Willows . A VERY FINE ASSOCIATION COPY: Milne's Pooh books were published between 1924 and 1928, after which he wrote no more children's books. Hating to repeat himself, he moved on to other forms once he ceased to amuse and challenge himself. Following his Pooh books, Milne turned to the stage, and his plays of the 1920s and 30s appealed to audiences nurtured on the work of J.M. Barrie. Always a champion of The Wind in the Willows , Milne turned the novel into the play Toad of Toad Hall in 1929. Not surprisingly, Milne focused primarily on the animals, excising most of Grahame's romantic fantasy. When Grahame's work was originally published in 1908 it received only moderate enthusiasm, but the huge success of Milne's stage version, and this subsequent republication of the book with Shepard's illustrations, helped establish the book as a children's classic.