THE COURTING OF DINAH SHADD and Other Stories

Kipling, Rudyard

Published by Publication Date: 1890

[Paul / Kern / Strasburger copy] With a Biographical and Critical Sketch by Andrew Lang. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1890. 2 pp undated ads. Original blue-grey printed wrappers. First Edition, first issue (with the list of titles ending with this one), issued in September 1890 as No. 680 in Harper's "Franklin Square Library." The other five tales are "The Man Who Was," "A Conference of the Powers," "Without Benefit of Clergy," "On Greenhow Hill" and "The Incarnation of Krishna Mulvaney." On his 1889 trip to the United States, Kipling had submitted a number of his short stories to Messrs. Harper & Brothers of New York, but Harper declined with the haughty statement that the firm "could not trouble itself about such writings" as his [quotes by Richards]. Nevertheless, in the following year the firm acquired the serial rights to five stories which were published in Harper's Weekly between March and August 1890, and in September, took the liberty of publishing this volume which also included "Krishna Mulvaney." In the October 4, 1890 issue of The Athenæum, Kipling intimated that Harper & Brothers had been guilty of literary piracy, and controversy ensued, with Harper sending him 10 after the fact, which Kipling angrily returned. It ended in December with Harper purportedly suppressing this edition and coming out with a [second edition] that replaced "The Incarnation of Krishna Mulvaney" with "The Record of Badalia Herodsfoot," for which they had acquired the serial rights. Kipling later wrote "I should have taken their money and held my tongue but in those days I thought I did well to be angry. Never again." The following year (1891), these same stories were collected with Kipling's blessing in Lovell's volume MINE OWN PEOPLE; they also then appeared in a first English edition, published as LIFE'S HANDICAP. This book is the first to include a portrait of Rudyard Kipling -- at a desk, with pen and cigar in hand. This is a very good copy (minor edge-wear of the wrapper, a couple of closed tears, inkstamp of "J.N. Keel's Old Bookstore" in Buffalo on the front wrapper, on the title page, and on the first and last pages of text). A paperback meant to be read and discarded, it does not turn up today in much better condition than this. Richards A43 (who indicates that the inside-front-cover list of titles runs from 681 back to 590; this copy is one title earlier, running from 680 -- this book -- back to 589); Stewart 76. Housed in a morocco-backed slipcase with inner chemise. Provenance: bookplate on the inside cover of John J. Paul (with the inked date 1912), plus the Anderson Auction entry #356 with the inked "10/14/1912 Anderson 7.75"; bookplates on the chemise of Jerome Kern and of Clara & Irwin Strasburger. Seller Inventory # 15878

Bibliographic Details

Title: THE COURTING OF DINAH SHADD and Other Stories
Publication Date: 1890
Binding: Soft cover
Edition: First Edition.