Books

An attractive set of Kipling's best-known classic of children's literature, in a contemporary London binding; The Jungle Book in second impression, The Second Jungle Book in first impression. Charles Edward Mudie (1818-1890) was a London bookseller and publisher who founded his business in 1840. He became famous for successful circulating library which played a major role in sustaining the popularity of the three-volume novel format. The company also offered bookbinding services, in the bindery division based in the upper floors of the New Oxford Street building. Mudie's business continued for a few decades after his death, closing in 1937. The stories of the Jungle Book were published in periodicals in 1893 and 1894. The first book edition collects these seven stories, affixes a verse heading to each, and adds seven further poems, all by Kipling. Most of the stories and poems of the Second Jungle Book were similarly published in periodicals: the first book edition collects these eight stories and three poems, and adds four further poems by Kipling. Kipling won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1907; he was the first English-language writer, and the youngest ever, to receive the prize. Two works, octavo (178 x 118 mm). Contemporary half calf by Mudie, spines with raised bands, compartments elaborately tooled in gilt, brown morocco label, marbled sides, endpapers, and edges. Half-tone frontispiece to The Jungle Book, numerous illustrations in the text of both vols by William Henry Drake, Paul Frenzeny, and the author's father John Lockwood Kipling. The Second Jungle Book bound without publisher's advertisements at end. Ownership inscription "Ian (?) Robinson" dated May 1895 on an initial blank in The Jungle Book. Extremities sometime retouched, minor marks to covers, intermittent foxing to contents, else clean. 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.