Collins released Michael Bond’s first Paddington Bear book, A Bear Called Paddington, in 1958.
The book introduced the polite young bear from Peru after the Brown family found him at Paddington station. Its success established a publishing series that grew through many further story collections and illustrated editions.
Collins was a major British publishing house. The original Paddington books were illustrated by Peggy Fortnum, whose drawings helped define the character’s familiar appearance alongside Bond’s prose.
The title is sometimes confused with the name of the character or with later books such as More About Paddington. A Bear Called Paddington is specifically the first book in the series, not merely the first story adapted for television or film.