Before we board

Left home this morning and traveled via train to NYC.

Took a walk through Times Square, and on to the New York Public Library to see the Polonsky Exhibition. A wonderful exhibit featuring manuscripts, art and artifacts that bring vividly to life voices of the past. We saw Virginia Woolf’s walking stick, Charles Dickens’ desk and the Gutenberg Bible. The highlight for me, though, was to see the original stuffed animals on which AA Milne based Winnie the Pooh and friends.

On his first birthday, in 1921, Christopher Robin Milne received a teddy bear purchased from Harrods department store in London. Christened Winnie-the-Pooh, the bear soon acquired several now-familiar companions: Eeyore, Piglet, Kanga, Tigger, and Roo. (Roo was eventually lost in an apple orchard.) In time, Christopher's playmates would come to inspire several classic works such as Winnie-the-Pooh (1926) and The House at Pooh Corner (1928), all written by his father, A.A.Milne.

Brought to the United States in 1947, the toys remained with Milne's American publisher, E.P. Dutton, until 1987, when they were donated to the Library. Today they stand as a beloved centerpiece of the Library's renowned collection of children's literature, continuing to delight and inspire both the young and young at heart.