Jan 18 - Pooh Bear

It's Winnie the Pooh time :) National Winnie the Pooh Day commemorates A.A. Milne’s January 18, 1882, birthday.

A. A. Milne named the character Winnie-the-Pooh for a teddy bear owned by his son, Christopher Robin Milne, who was the inspiration for the character Christopher Robin. In 1921, as a first-birthday present, Christopher  received the small stuffed bear, which had been purchased at Harrods in London. Piglet, Eeyore, Kanga, Roo and Tigger, soon joined Winnie the Pooh and were incorporated into Milne's stories. Two more characters, Owl and Rabbit, were created by Milne's imagination, and Gopher was added to the Disney version. 

Christopher Milne had named his toy bear after Winnie, a Canadian black bear he often saw at London Zoo, and "Pooh", a swan they met while on a holiday.

Winnie-the-Pooh first appeared by name on 24 December 1925, in a Christmas story commissioned and published by the London paper, The Evening News. The first collection of Pooh stories appeared in the book Winnie-the-Pooh which was published in October 1926.

Brought to the United States in 1947, the toys remained with the American publisher E.P. Dutton until 1987, when they were donated to The New York Public Library. They are all now happily ensconced in the Children's Center at 42nd Street, their beautiful new home in the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street, which I got to visit after work today :)