PeaceBang

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1. Well, I know where I’m going on my next trip to New York! And a trip to the Strand bookstore afterwords would cap the day off beautifully!

   Comment by Lisa — July 20, 2008 #

2. Ooh, how cool that you met Winnie the Pooh and friends. I once met Bagpuss (which may mean nothing to you given that it was an English children’s TV programme - not sure if it made it to the States)

   Anyway, point of leaving comment was mainly to say the Mary Woolstonecraft lived on the Green at the end of my road (think she was connected to the Unitarian chapel there which is the oldest non-conformist place of worship in London. Oh yes, where I live was a hotbed of dissent a few hundred years ago!)

   Comment by Cal — July 20, 2008 #

3. Mr PW and I visited the Gutenberg Museum in Mainz years ago, and saw a Gutenberg Bible, and also a copy of an original Gutenberg press, on which they print facsimile pages, for sale as posters. Students from the local fine art college do the illuminations. Two of them adorn my living room wall …

   Winnie the Pooh and co - how wonderful!

   Comment by Pigwidgeon — July 20, 2008 #

4. PB - Do you (or anyone reading) know how Christopher Robin (Milne)’s stuffed toys came to be displayed in NY? Does the library own them, or are they just on display? Just curious.

   Thanks!

   Comment by Jim B. — July 21, 2008 #

5. Interesting to read the autobiographies of both A.A. and Christopher (Robin) Milne, though I have unhelpfully blocked their titles.

   Christopher’s gave a poignant description of what it was like to grow up as “Christopher Robin” - the books became famous immediately. While he DID look like the sweet but girlish figure in the drawings, he did not LIKE it - the hair and clothing styles were much more acceptable when his father was a boy. He was very shy, and did not like having visitors exclaim over him. He was mechanically inclined, rather than artistic or bookish like his father. He claimed he was from the “Children should be seen and not heard” era, and thus was not close to either of his parents growing up. He said the stories were much more like A.A. Milne’s childhood persona than his own. It wasn’t until he took up drawing, that he found a way to come closer to his father - there is a sweet memoir of him at 8, sitting in his father’s study and making a serious attempt at a likeness. “The high forehead, the difficult, beaky nose…” And his pleasure in having his father proudly show the drawing to friends. Roughest was growing up and still being four years old to the rest of the world. Imagine being in the 8th grade, and having schoolyard toughs saying, “Eh, wot, Christopher Robin, still saying your prayers?”

   Comment by Rev. Gidget — July 21, 2008 #

6. jealous, jealous, jealous. wanted that same picture so badly, but when we were at the library in April the guard had her gun drawn and ready if we so much as aimed a cell phone at pooh bear. “No pictures allowed, m’am!” in a loud tone so that everyone else in the room looked up. sheesh! we were goners. [oh my dear, i didn’t take this photo, I got it off the NYPL web site!! I only take illegal photos at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in the outdoor patio part… PB]

   Comment by Karen — July 21, 2008 #

7. Ooooooh! To both exhibits!

   Comment by SingingOwl — July 21, 2008 #

8. I’ve got to check this out next time I’m in NY (hopefully sometime next year). Love it! Hope it’s still there ….

   Comment by h sofia — July 22, 2008 #

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