The Jungle Book [with] The Second Jungle Book.

£1,500 · Offered by Shapero Rare Books

The Jungle Book is a 'collection of stories published in 1894. The Second Jungle Book, published in 1895, contains stories linked by poems. The stories tell mostly of Mowgli, an Indian boy who is raised by wolves from infancy and who learns self-sufficiency and wisdom from the jungle animals. The book describes the social life of the wolf pack and, more fancifully, the justice and natural order of life in the jungle. Among the animals whose tales are related in the work are Akela the wolf; Baloo the brown bear; Shere Khan, the boastful Bengal tiger who is Mowgli's enemy; Kaa the python; Bagheera the panther; and Rikki-tikki-tavi the mongoose.' (Merriam-Webster's Encyclopaedia of Literature). First editions, second printings (both published in the same year as the first printings), 2 volumes; 8vo (195 x135 mm); The Jungle Book: original dark grey/green coated endpapers, [2, blank], frontispiece, [vi], [2, contents], 212pp, 42 illustrations including 19 full-page, spotting is moderately persistent throughout, minor loss to front pastedown; The Second Jungle Book: original dark grey-green endpapers, [2, blank], [4], 240pp, 39 text illustrations, including head-and tail-piece vignettes and historiated initials, volume two is exceptionally clean and page are bright; uniformly bound in publisher's blue cloth, decoratively ruled and pictorially stamped in gilt on front covers, spines lettered in gilt, all edges gilt, corners bumped, shelf wear to volume one with small chip to emboss

• Binding: Hardcover

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