Kim.
Toronto: George N. Morang & Co., Limited, 1901. First Canadian edition. Hardcover. This is the Canadian edition of Kim, “considered to be Kipling’s greatest work, and the finest novel about the India of the British Empire”.
This first Canadian edition, considerably scarcer than its U.S. and British counterparts, was made up from the U.S. sheets with a cancel title leaf. The binding is the same dark green cloth illustrated with a black-stamped, Kipling-designed Viking longship on a wave-crested sea on the front cover and spine, but with the Canadian publisher, "Morang", stamped in gilt at the spine heel. The title page features "George N. Morang & Co., Limited" rather than the U.S. publisher, Doubleday.
This is a lovely copy, in very good condition. The green illustrated green cloth binding is square, clean, bright, tight, and sharp cornered. There is modest shelf wear to the bottom edges, including a touch of fraying to the lower front cover corner, wrinkling at the spine head, and a few trivial blemishes, including a triangle of mild dulling at the lower corner of the blank rear cover. The contents are notably clean, with no spotting, bright gilt top edges, and mild age-toning primarily confined to the otherwise clean untrimmed fore and bottom edges. A single previous owner name – initials and a surname – is inked to the upper front free endpaper recto. The binding is protected beneath a clear, removable, mylar cover.
Among Kipling’s tales of India, perhaps none eclipses his masterpiece, Kim. Originally published in 1901, 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.
U.S., Canadian, and British first editions of Kim 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 #009004
Price: $250.00