The first Winnie-the-Pooh book was published in 1926.
Written by A. A. Milne and illustrated by E. H. Shepard, Winnie-the-Pooh was published in England by Methuen on 14 October 1926. It collected stories about Pooh and Christopher Robin, whose adventures were inspired partly by Christopher Robin Milne’s stuffed animals.
The character had appeared earlier in related forms. A bear called Edward appeared in Milne’s 1924 poetry collection When We Were Very Young, and Pooh first appeared by name in a Christmas story published in London’s Evening News on 24 December 1925. Those earlier appearances are sometimes mistaken for the publication date of the first Pooh book.
The 1926 volume was an immediate commercial success, selling 150,000 copies before the end of that year. Its sequel, The House at Pooh Corner, followed in 1928 and introduced Tigger. The original book’s setting was inspired by real places around Ashdown Forest in East Sussex, including Five Hundred Acre Wood.