KIM by Kipling, Rudyard - 1901

1901. Kipling, J.Lockwood. New York: Doubleday, Page & Company, 1901. Original dark green cloth pictorially decorated in black. First Edition (published 16 days before the London edition). This is the book that "is acknowledged as Kipling's masterpiece in fiction... the novel is the finest written about the India of the British Empire" [CGEL]. It follows the adventures of an orphan son of a British soldier who is raised by an Indian woman, becomes a disciple to a Lama, and ultimately becomes an undercover agent as well. The illustrations are photographs of bas-relief sculptures by John Lockwood Kipling, the author's father. This is a copy from the second state or printing (with rhymed chapter headings for all chapters, as in the UK edition and in the earlier McClure's Magazine serialization). It is in fine, bright condition, with only the slightest of rubbing at the corners. Richards A173; Stewart 255; Livingston 248.