Kim.
New York: Doubleday, Page & Company, 1901. First edition, first printing. Hardcover. This is the first edition of Kim, “considered to be Kipling’s greatest work, and the finest novel about the India of the British Empire”.
Published on 1 October 1901, this American first edition preceded its British counterpart by 16 days. The ribbed dark green cloth binding is illustrated with a black-stamped, Kipling-designed Viking longship on a wave-crested sea on the front cover and spine, as well as the gilt-stamped title and author on both front cover and spine. The contents were bound with gilt top edges and untrimmed fore and bottom edges. In addition to an entirely different binding, this first American edition, unlike the first English edition and the second American edition, has verse headings at Chapters VIII and XIII only, and these differ from the headings in the serialized version (where all chapters have headings).
This copy is in very good condition, sound, bright, and complete. The dark green cloth binding is square, tight, clean, and unfaded, with no difference in tone between the spine and covers and bright gilt. Modest shelf wear appears confined to extremities, with gently bruised corners, slightly frayed spine ends, and a touch of wear at the joints. The contents are notably clean. We find no spotting and no previous ownership marks. Incidental soiling appears confined to a few small finger marks at the foot of the title page and there is a touch of offsetting to the endpapers from the pastedown glue. The gilt top edges remain bright with light scuffing. The untrimmed fore and bottom edges show some age-toning, but are otherwise clean. This copy came to us in a rigid, black laid paper-covered slipcase. The slipcase is lightly soiled but fully intact, with no splits or bumps and little appreciable wear.
Among Kipling’s tales of India, perhaps none eclipses his masterpiece, Kim. This is the story of Kimball O’Hara, an Irish orphan who goes from begging on the streets of Lahore to being a spy for the British, simultaneously taking a spiritual journey that conflicts with his new obligations to the Empire. Kim’s context is the “Great Game” that pitted Russia against Britain for control of the subcontinent in the wake of the Second Afghan War (1878-1880). Kipling’s career as a journalist afforded him travel to the major cities of India, a breadth of geographic experience with the subcontinent that informs the sweeping settings of Kim.
This U.S. first edition has precedence over its British counterpart. Both followed serialization in the United States in McClure’s Magazine from December 1900 through October 1901, and in Britain in Cassell’s Magazine from January through November 1901. Chosen by the New York Public Library as one of its “books of the century,” Kim was “Kipling’s final book about India, and was called ‘magical’ upon publication. When the orphaned Kimball O’Hara joins a Buddhist lama in his search for the River of Healing, the reader not only beholds a kaleidoscope of people and settings through Kim’s eyes, but also feels the native social and spiritual currents of India moving beneath the political veneer of imperial ambitions and authority. Bengali critic Niraud Chaudhuri called Kim ‘the finest novel in the English language dealing with an Indian theme’”. Kim was also included in the Modern Library’s list of the 100 best English-language books of the 20th century.
Joseph Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) was an English poet, short-story writer, and novelist chiefly remembered for his celebration of British imperialism, stories and poems of British India, and his tales for children. Despite this reputation, Kipling’s extraordinary body of work “eludes all labels in its range and variety… Kipling's work is not only of the highest artistic excellence, it is deeply humane and fully expresses the sense of one of his favourite texts: ‘Praised be Allah for the diversity of his creatures.’” Kipling was in his twenties when his stories of Anglo-Indian life made him a literary celebrity, and he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1907. Kipling was the first English language author awarded and remains the youngest person to receive the Prize.
References: Richards A173; ODNB, Books of the Century. Item #009003
Price: $450.00