By far one of the most popular writers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, English novelist, journalist and poet Rudyard Kipling was a prolific, versatile and gifted writer and, in 1907, became both the first writer of the English language and the youngest author to date to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Rare original photograph of Nobel Prize-winning author Rudyard Kipling; signed by him
Born on December 30, 1865 in the Bombay Presidency of British India, Kipling’s writing career began in the mid 1880’s when he took a position at the Civil and Military Gazette in Lahore, where he soon expanded his repertoire beyond journalism into the realm of short story-writing. In 1886, he published six collections of short stories, the royalties from which he used to move to London where he published his first novels, The Light that Failed and The Naulaka: A Story of West and East.
First British edition of Rudyard Kipling’s The Naulahka: A Story of East and West; written in collaboration with Wolcott Balestier
Written in collaboration with American writer and publishing agent, Wolcott Balestier, and set in the fictional state of “Rahore”, The Naulahka was not particularly commercially successful at the time of publication. Through the collaboration with Balestier, however, Kipling met his future wife, Balestier’s sister Carrie.
The two were married in London on January 18, 1892 and honeymooned in the United States where they soon settled permanently in Dummerston, Vermont and built a now historic Shingle Style House which Kipling named Naulahka in honor of the collaboration with Wolcott.
Kipling would write the bulk of his best-known works at Naulahka including Captains Courageous, The Jungle Books, The Day’s Work, The Seven Seas, Kim and Just So Stories For Little Children.
First editions of both volume of Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book
Centering on the story of Mowgli, an orphaned ‘man-cub’ who is raised in the jungle of India by wolves where he comes to learn the Laws of the Jungle, The Jungle Books were well-received upon publication in 1894 and have remained popular to this day with over 15 film adaptations produced based on the stories including the classic 1967 Walt Disney animated film. A major theme throughout the books is abandonment followed by fostering, as in the life of Mowgli, echoing Kipling’s own childhood experiences including what he would later describe as a horrific experience when his parents sent him to board abroad in Britain with a cruel and neglectful couple for several years.
First British edition of Rudyard Kipling’s Captains Courageous: A Story of the Grand Banks; in the rare original dust jacket
A richly detailed tale of life aboard a New England fishing boat, Captains Courageous, contains “something of [Kipling’s] feelings about America—both his affection and his irritation” (Carpenter & Prichard, 296). The only book of Kipling’s set entirely in America, at “…the heart of the book—its moral in a single sentence—is one of Kipling’s main beliefs of this period expressed in terms essentially American, or perhaps more particularly New England. He put it later in verse: ‘And the Gods of the Copy-book Maxims said: ‘If you don’t work you will die!’ It is a saga of hard physical work in conflict with natural forces. It is a book which could hardly have been written by anyone who did not admire Huckleberry Finn; it is a book whose claim to survival rests mainly on detail, and it is all American detail” (Mason, 119).
First edition of Rudyard Kipling’s Kim
Often considered Kipling’s masterpiece, Kim was first published serially in McClure’s Magazine from December 1900 to October 1901 as well as in Cassell’s Magazine from January to November 1901, and first published in book form by Macmillan & Co. Ltd in October 1901. Set against the backdrop of the political conflict that existed for most of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century between the British Empire and the Russian Empire, over Afghanistan and neighboring territories in Central and South Asia, the book popularized the term “The Great Game” in reference to the conflict and was noted for its detailed portrait of the people, culture, and varied religions of India. “The book presents a vivid picture of India, its teeming populations, religions, and superstitions, and the life of the bazaars and the road.”
First edition, first issue of Rudyard Kipling’s Just So Stories For Little Children
In 1899 on a visit to the United States, Kipling and his first daughter Josephine developed pneumonia, from which she eventually died. In the wake of her death, Kipling compiled the now classic collection Just So Stories For Little Children, published in 1902, the year after Kim. Just So Stories has “achieved nursery immortality because a genius has married two of the most tried and trusted favorite media—the fable and the fairy-story” (Muir, 107). “Kipling’s own witty black-and-white drawings… together with their extensive and ridiculous captions, are one of the chief delights of the book” (Carpenter & Prichard, 285).
Rare first American edition of Rudyard Kipling’s If
One of Kipling’s most popular poems, If, first appeared in the collection Rewards and Fairies. In his posthumously published autobiography, Something of Myself (1937), Kipling said that, in writing the poem, he was inspired by the character of Leander Starr Jameson, leader of the failed Jameson Raid against the Transvaal Republic to overthrow the Boer Government of Paul Kruger. The failure of that mercenary coup d’état aggravated the political tensions between Great Britain and the Boers, which led to the Second Boer War (1899–1902).As an evocation of Victorian-era stoicism—the “stiff upper lip” self-discipline, which popular culture rendered into a British national virtue and character trait, “If—” remains a cultural touchstone”.
The Bombay edition of The Works of Rudyard Kipling; one of 1,050 sets with Vol. I signed by Rudyard Kipling
Because of his immense popularity, many of Kipling’s works were published in unauthorized formats, or pirated editions, and sold by several underground publication houses in the United Kingdom, United States, and Canada. His works were also collected and published in signed limited edition sets, perhaps most notably The Bombay edition, published by Macmillan & Company in 1897 and containing a superior collection of his poetry, novels, stories, travel writings, children’s tales, military tales and essays.
First edition of Rudyard Kipling’s autobiography Something of Myself
In addition to Kipling’s major works featured above, our collection currently includes the first edition of Kipling’s autobiography, Something of Myself, featured above and a number of other first editions, signed letters, and rare unauthorized editions.
