About this Item
First edition, published in 1899, with a sepia photographic portrait of the author at the fore. Published as 'English Writers of To-Day. No. 1', as stated on the half-title page. ***Very good in maroon buckram bevelled boards, with gilt titles to the spine and front board. The gilt has faded on the spine, but is still bright on the front board. The edges of the boards show some light rubbing and wear commensurate with age and handling over the last 125 years. The fragile spine of the book is undamaged, just lightly faded. Gilt top edge. No reading lean to the binding. Spine tight. Internally clean with no foxing or creasing. A previous owner has written some interesting notes in light pencil on the front pastedown and rear free endpaper. The notes refer to the purchase of the book in 1992 and having to cut many of the pages which had remained uncut since 1899! Some fore-edges a little rough-cut. The first four-page gathering is slightly loose but still attached at the gutter. No dustwrapper. ***236 pages plus a 12pp publisher's catalogue at the back of the book. 195mm x 135mm. ***Contents: Two-page Preface by Rudyard Kipling, The Man Himself, The Poetry Books, The Indian Library, The Other stories, Some Early Criticisms, By Way of Epilogue, List of Books, Scheme of stories, Kiplingana, Envoy. ***'Joseph Rudyard Kipling (30 Dec 1865 - 18 Jan 1936) was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work. Kipling's works of fiction include the Jungle Book duology - "The Jungle Book" (1894, "The Second Jungle Book" (1895), "Kim" (1901), the "Just So Stories" (1902) and many short stories, including "The Man Who Would Be King" (1888). His poems include "Mandalay" (1890), "Gunga Din" (1890), "The Gods of the Copybook Headings" (1919), "The White Man's Burden" (1899), and "If?" (1910). He is seen as an innovator in the art of the short story. His children's books are classics; one critic noted "a versatile and luminous narrative gift". Kipling in the late 19th and early 20th centuries was among the United Kingdom's most popular writers. Henry James said "Kipling strikes me personally as the most complete man of genius, as distinct from fine intelligence, that I have ever known." In 1907, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, as the first English-language writer to receive the prize, and at 41, its youngest recipient to date. He was also sounded out for the British Poet Laureateship and several times for a knighthood, but declined both. Following his death in 1936, his ashes were interred at Poets' Corner, part of the South Transept of Westminster Abbey. Kipling's subsequent reputation has changed with the political and social climate of the age. The contrasting views of him continued for much of the 20th century. Literary critic Douglas Kerr wrote: "[Kipling] is still an author who can inspire passionate disagreement and his place in literary and cultural history is far from settled. But as the age of the European empires recedes, he is recognised as an incomparable, if controversial, interpreter of how empire was experienced. That, and an increasing recognition of his extraordinary narrative gifts, make him a force to be reckoned with'. (Wiki) ***A first edition of this very early biographical work on the life and works of Rudyard Kipling, in very good original condition. A book seldom encountered in such well-preserved condition. ***For all our books, postage is charged at cost, allowing for packaging: any shipping rates indicated on ABE are an average only: we will reduce the P & P charge where appropriate - please contact us for postal rates for heavier books and sets etc.
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