Just So Stories

with the rare dustjacket

A lovely copy in the exceptionally rare dustjacket which, unusually for the period, reproduces an image different from that of the blocking on the boards.

With a contemporary gift inscription to the front flyleaf: 'Alice M. L. Russell / from / John S. Russell / October 1902'. Followed by another endearing inscription, presumably from the mother of the recipient, to the front panel of the dustjacket: 'This is the first edition of / [Just So Stories] / Dad went to great trouble to get it / therefore keep carefully'.

Kipling's famous stories include: How the Whale Got His Throat, How the Camel Got His Hump, How the Rhinoceros Got His Skin, How the Leopard Got His Spots, The Elephant's Child, The Sing-Song of Old Man Kangaroo, The Beginning of the Armadilloes, How the First Letter Was Written, How the Alphabet Was Made, The Crab that Played with the Sea, The Cat that Walked by Himself, and The Butterfly that Stamped.

The Chinese white pigment commonly used for the decorative blocking on the first issue binding famously tended to flake off and a new ink was used for the more commonly encountered second issue.

First edition, first impression, second issue binding; large 8vo; 22 full-page illustrations by the author, faint partial offsetting to endpapers, faint contemporary gift inscription to front flyleaf, discreet bookseller's label to front pastedown, occasional minor thumb-soiling to blank fore-margins, a hint of spotting to fore-edge of text block; publisher's red decorated cloth, lettered in white, minor rubbing to spine tips and corners, front cover only slightly bowed, with the dustjacket, a few closed tears and nicks to extremities, loss to head of spine panel (costing two letters), small triangular area of loss to centre of spine panel, long closed tears to head of front and rear panels discreetly repaired on verso, traces of earlier repair to corners and head and foot of spine, early inscription in black ink to front panel; a very good copy in the rare dustjacket.

Richards A181.