Alan Alexander Milne (1882–1956) was born in London, England, and educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he wrote for Granta. After graduating, Milne pursued his love of writing by contributing verse and essays to the literary magazine Punch, eventually becoming its assistant editor. During this time he published his first collection of stories, Lovers in London, and began a prolific career as a novelist, playwright, poet, short story writer, and screenwriter. Milne’s most enduring success, however, was his children’s book Winnie-the-Pooh, which made Milne a household name.

Ernest Howard Shepard (1879–1976) was born in London, England. He broadened his early interest in drawing by attending Heatherley School of Fine Art and the Royal Academy Schools, where he won a Landseer scholarship in 1899 and a British Institute prize in 1900. A contributing cartoonist for the literary magazine Punch from 1921 to 1953, Shepard is best remembered today for his illustrated editions of Aesop’s Fables, The Reluctant Dragon, David Copperfield, Tom Brown’s Schooldays, and most notably, A. A. Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh.