Kipling, Rudyard

Debits and Credits

Garden City, NY: Doubleday, Page & Company, 1926. First American Edition. Hardcover. A varied & rich collection of short stories & poems by Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936), the canonical British author & journalist. Kipling was one of the world's most popular writers for children & adults during the later 19th- earlier 20th centuries; & he remains so today despite his now-unfashionable celebration of colonialism & the old British Empire. The structure of this volume is to alternate between stories & poems, in many cases one story followed by two poems. Among the many fine stories written over a span of years is "The Wish House," regarded as one of his best by contemporary critics & very popular with his readers then & now. Hardcover in dark green cloth with gilt letters & embossed-colored illustrations on front cover & spine. First American edition of 1926, published concurrently (we believe) with the first British edition. Without original dust jacket or band, scarcely found in acceptable condition. A former library copy as detailed below. A desirable, collectible "reading copy" of a classic & exemplary Kipling collection. In relatively good-to-near-fine unrestored condition with very mild rubbing, scratching to front, back covers & esp. spine; mild wear at edges & corners of same with slight fraying & loss of color; gilt lettering significantly faded at spine (assuming these letters were originally gilt); several very faint vertical creases along length of spine; moderate browning & rubbing to edges of text block; significant fading, mild scratching to dyed upper edge of same. Interior good-to-near-fine with vintage cancelled library ledger affixed to blank front endpaper (last date borrowed or due: "Sep(tember) 16 1954"); former (pre-library) owner's signature partially erased above same; library reference numbers & letters hand-written in ink at blank upper-right margin of title page; mild browning, spotting & creasing to paste-downs & endpapers; mild browning mostly to blank margins of page leaves; series of single small spots (possibly burns) at lower margins of a few of same esp. pgs. 1-8. Good- Near Fine. [Item #4364]

Price: $40.00