16mo., original greyish brown printed wrappers, titled diagonally across the front cover within a typographic frame. [Imprint on wrapper only, printed at] Lahore, The "Civil and Military Gazette". No Date, 1884.
A very good and entirely unsophisticated copy of an outstanding rarity: the author's second book.
With some minor stains to the front cover, some old soft creases to the fore edge corners, gentle rounding and softening of fore-edge corners, early pencil annotations either identifying the poets being "echoed" or identifying poems as R.K.'s original work. A sound, unrestored copy in an early linen folding box.
Kipling was only eighteen, but was already writing for the Civil and Military Gazette when he commissioned this in an edition he describes as being of 150 copies. Richards notes that Kipling claimed that the Gazette printed the book for free, as he was a staff member, and that not only was it well reviewed, but "the edition sold out and the unanticipated profits enabled Kipling to buy a new horse".
There is some dispute about how many of the poems themselves (most of which were parodies, or "echoes" of other authors) were Rudyard's and which were by his 16 year sold sister Alice, known as "Trix". She claimed eleven, while Rudyard believed that she only contributed seven: Richards is able to rebutt her claim to two of the disputed poems by finding them in Kipling's manuscript notebooks.
Richards, A2.
