Stalky & Co.

Rudyard Kipling

Published by Macmillan & Co., 1899

About this Item

First Edition, First Issue. A truly lovely collector's copy, near fine, in the publisher's original red cloth boards, still as unworn,unmarked and bright as they were when new, with the circular gilt elephant motif in blind on the front board gleaming and unrubbed.Corners sharp.Rarely found in such beautiful condition. The only (very minor defects) are that the top and bottoms of the spine show slight shelf wear and there is offsetting on the ffep.from the red leather bookplate of the Estelle Doheny Collection. This was one of the books from the collection sold at auction at Sotheby's New York over 19 months in 1988/99. With a slipped in Macmillan & Co. advertisement for the forthcoming UK edition of 'Richard Carvel' by the American novelist Winston Churchill, also published in 1899. 8vo.pp.xxii, 272+2 pages of advertisements at rear. Stalky & Co., Kipling's subversive and unsentimental version of the traditional school story exemplified by "Tom Brown's Schooldays" was much criticized in its day. Somerset Maugham wrote; "A more odious portrait of school life can seldom have been drawn", while Robert Buchanan called its heroes Stalky, M'Turk and Beetle "these three small fiends in human likeness" and hated the "horrible vileness of the book" and "its truly repulsive character". But its lack of moralising, the exuberance and cunning of Stalky & Co and their ability to undermine their adversaries, whether prefects or teachers has ensured its popularity among children. Kipling based "The Coll" on his own school, The United Services College at Westward Ho! in Devon, and included a self-portrait in the character of "Beetle", who, like Kipling himself, was the only boy who wore glasses, and indeed was almost blind without them. He identifies so much with "Beetle" that he even refers to him as "I" in the last chapter.

Seller Inventory # ABE-1506725482953

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Stalky & Co.
• Publisher: Macmillan & Co.
• Publication Date: 1899
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: Near Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: No Jacket
• Seller catalogs:
  • 20th Century Literature
  • Childrens' Books
  • Estelle Doheny Collection