Rudyard Kipling | The Complete Works in Prose and Verse, 1937-39, 35 volumes, publisher's tan morocco gilt, first volume signed by the author

Rudyard Kipling

the Complete Works in Prose and Verse. London: 1937-1939

THE SUSSEX EDITION, NO.119 OF 525 COPIES (of which 500 were for sale), VOLUME 1 SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR, 35 volumes, 8vo (242 x 159mm), titles printed in white within russet frames, printed on handmade paper with a watermark of Ganesha, original crimson niger morocco by James Burn, covers with double gilt-fillet border, spines gilt-lettered in six compartments, marbled endpapers, top edges gilt on rough, others uncut, spines very slightly sunned

A VERY FINE COPY OF THE DE-LUXE AND DEFINITIVE EDITION OF KIPLING'S WORKS, which the author worked on in his final years before his death in 1936. Two volumes of uncollected prose and much verse are collected here for the first time. During the bombing of London in 1941 a substantial portion of the unbound sheets was destroyed, and it was later said in Macmillan’s centenary history that the visitors’ furniture at the publisher’s office was covered with the Nigerian goatskin leather which could not be used for the destroyed text blocks.

LITERATURE:

Richards D23