The Jungle Book by Kipling, Rudyard - 1894

New York: The Century Co.. Near Fine in Very Good dust jacket. 1894. First Edition. Cloth. Publisher's olive-green criss-cross patterned cloth, gilt decoration on upper and lower boards, decoration and titles on spine, top edges gilt, in the publisher's illustrated jacket printed in olive green; with numerous plates and illustrations in text, throughout, plus b/w frontispiece. Book is near fine, with a spot of soiling to the upper board, a scrape to the top-edge gilt, and scattered foxing to the page edges; the jacket is heavily chipped at the spine tips, more lightly at the extremities, and age toned, especially at the spine. Housed in a green-cloth clamshell case with leather/gilt spine label; The first American edition, published the same day as the first English, but with substantial differences (see Richards A76). Kipling himself much preferred the American binding to the British, saying it beat the English version "to little pieces." Although it appears the British edition was likely issued with a plain glassine dust jacket, the bibliographies have no record of this illustrated wrapper issued by The Century Co. Richards A77, Livingston 105 .