London: Macmillan and Co., 1894–1895.
Few books have shaped the imagination of childhood quite like Kipling’s Jungle Books. First published in 1894 and 1895, these two volumes introduced the world to Mowgli, Baloo, Bagheera, Kaa, and Shere Khan - stories that blended fable, folklore, and imperial adventure into one of the most enduring classics of English literature.
This is a first edition pairing of both volumes, presented in their striking original blue cloth bindings, each lavishly gilt–stamped: elephants with riders on the cover of The Jungle Book, and the great cobra Kaa coiled on the cover of The Second Jungle Book. The spines repeat these designs with gilt cobra devices and gilt titles, among the most iconic publisher’s cloths of the Victorian era.
The Jungle Book (1894) includes the first appearance of “Mowgli’s Brothers,” “Kaa’s Hunting,” and “Tiger! Tiger!” alongside such favourites as “Rikki-Tikki-Tavi.” The Second Jungle Book (1895) continued the tales, deepening the Mowgli cycle and adding enduring pieces like “The King’s Ankus” and “Red Dog.” Together, the two books form the complete Mowgli canon.
Illustrated throughout: The Jungle Book with contributions by J. L. Kipling, W. H. Drake, and P. Frenzeny, while The Second Jungle Book is decorated by Kipling’s father, John Lockwood Kipling, C.I.E.
Condition: Bindings remarkably bright and well-preserved, gilt sharp; minor rubbing and light handling consistent with age; text blocks clean with only scattered foxing. The Second Jungle Book bears a neat early ownership inscription (dated Dec 1895).
Complete first edition sets in original cloth are increasingly scarce, especially when both volumes present well. These are the foundational works of Kipling’s career — the stories that earned him the Nobel Prize in Literature (1907) and secured his place in the canon of English storytelling.
