Christopher Robin's Toys

Christopher Robin first received that most famous of teddy bears as a present for his first birthday. Eeyore was a Christmas present in 1921, and Piglet was a gift from a neighbor in Chelsea. Kanga and Roo appeared in the nursery in 1925. (Roo had disappeared many years before this photo was taken.) Tigger didn't show up in the nursery until after Now We Are Six had been written. The other characters of Owl and Rabbit are based on animals that lived in the surrounding area of the Milnes' Cotchford Farm.

The toys made a tour of the United States in 1947. Milne provided a 'birth certificate' to travel with the toys. Dutton Publishing, Milne's American publisher, insured the toys for $50,000, a vast amount of money in those days. They toured the U.S. for about ten years, then ended up in the offices of Dutton. Dutton was able to convince Milne to let the toys remain in America. They remained at the Dutton offices until 1969, when they made a short trip to England (flying as VIPs in the Concorde) for a Shepard exhibit at the Victoria and Albert Museum, and again until 1987 when the toys were permanently moved to the Central Children's Room of the Donnell Library Center, a branch of the New York Public Library.

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