Just So Stories for Little Children

The True First Issue of Kipling's "Just So Stories,"
in the Extremely Scarce Original Printed Dust Jacket

KIPLING, Rudyard. Just So Stories for Little Children. Illustrated by the Author. London: Macmillan and Co., 1902.

First edition, first issue (with white pigment) of Kipling's famous collection of twelve stories and twelve poems, including "How the Camel Got His Hump" and "How the Leopard Got His Spots." Small quarto (9 1/16 x 6 7/8 inches; 231 x 175 mm.). [2, blank], [6], 249, [1, blank], [1, printer's device], [1, blank] pp. Twenty-two full-page illustrations.

Original red cloth pictorially stamped in black and white (in a design by the author) on covers, lettered in white on front cover, and pictorially stamped and lettered in white on spine. White pigment flaking a little, mainly on the spine, but far less than usual. Minimal foxing to endpapers. A near fine copy�one of the best that we have ever seen�in the extremely scarce original tan dust jacket printed in red (jacket spine missing). Chemised in a quarter red morocco slipcase.

"The white pigment used on the covers of the first edition flaked off and a new ink was used for subsequent issues" (Stewart).

"These twelve stories with an equal number of poems, written �for little children', were drawn from the store of �make believe' tales that Kipling told to his own children. All of the stories but one ["How the Alphabet Was Made"] had appeared in periodicals between 1897 and 1902, but none of the verses had been published before 1902" (Stewart). This book has the distinction of being the only one illustrated by Kipling.

Gumuchian 3526. Livingston 267. Martindell 99. Osborne Collection I, pp. 362-363. Stewart 260.

Price: $0

   (To order this item, or for more information, please call 818-222-4103)