Books

First editions in book form of Kipling's best-known classic of children's literature, attractively bound by the leading British bookbinder Riviere. Kipling won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1907; he was the first English-language writer, and the youngest ever, to receive the prize. Based on folk tales and legends that Kipling learned during his childhood in India, The Jungle Book was first published in periodicals in 1893 and 1894. An immediate success on publication, it was reprinted twice in 1894 and twice again the following year. "Kipling followed with The Second Jungle Book (1895), but the two sets of stories have rarely been united, despite the fact that the later book completed the Mowgli saga with five stories that relate closely to those in the first book and that are essential to its emotional rounding-out" (Grolier). Two works, octavo (179 x 117 mm). Early 20th-century half vellum by Rivière, smooth spines tooled in gilt with elaborate floral design, green morocco labels, light blue cloth sides ruled in gilt, marbled endpapers, top edges gilt. Tissue-guarded frontispiece to The Jungle Book, illustrations in the text of both vols, by William Henry Drake, Paul Frenzeny, and the author's father John Lockwood Kipling. Armorial bookplates of British collector Howard Douglas Leonard Galton (1858-1923) on front pastedowns. Gilt bright, couple of tiny chips to spine labels, nick to a few initial leaves in vol. II, of which two neatly repaired. A very good set. Grolier Children's 100, 52; Martindell 61 & 63; Richards A76 & A85.

The Jungle Book is a collection of stories by the English author Rudyard Kipling. Most of the characters are animals such as Shere Khan the tiger and Baloo the bear, though a principal character is the boy or "man-cub" Mowgli, who is raised in the jungle by wolves. The stories are set in a forest in India; one place mentioned repeatedly is the Seonee Hills, now known as the Seoni District in Madhya Pradesh.