Books

First English editions in book form: a notably fresh and internally bright set of Kipling's renowned duology, presented here in a handsome morocco binding. The Jungle Book and its sequel are rooted in the folk tales and legends that Kipling absorbed during his childhood in India. The Grolier Children's 100 notes that "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" (p. 192). The stories of the Jungle Book were originally 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. The first English and American editions of the Jungle Book were published simultaneously on 22 May; the first English edition of the Second Jungle Book was published three days after the American edition, on 12 November. Two works, octavo. Modern blue morocco (177 x 114 mm), spines with raised bands forming six compartments, second and fourth lettered in gilt, remainder with floral motifs tooled in gilt, bands, ends, and covers ruled in gilt, turn-ins tooled in gilt, marbled endpapers, edges gilt. Half-tone frontispiece to The Jungle Book, numerous illustrations in the text for both vols, leaf of publisher's advertisements at rear of the Second Jungle Book. Very light rubbing, else a fine 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.