London: Macmillan and Co., Limited, 1902. First edition. A Fine copy. Finely bound in full red crushed morocco (possibly by Asprey, though unsigned) with pictorial gilt elephant. Complete, with twenty-two plates and text illustrations throughout. Spine in compartments with raised bands and elephant motif. All edges gilt. Marbled endpapers. Original cloth cover bound in at rear. A very attractive example, clean and bright throughout, in a charming binding.

A classic work of children's literature and one of Kipling's most beloved titles, Just So Stories compiles origin tales like "How the Leopard Got its Spots" and "How the Elephant Got his Trunk," and "How the Camel Got His Hump." The book was charmingly illustrated by Kipling himself, who reported that the stories were born of out the bedtime tales that he told his daughter.

Kipling is, of course, best known for The Jungle Book and its sequel, which earned him the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1907 and secured his place in the canon of English storytelling. Based on folktales and legends that Kipling learned during his childhood in India, the Jungle Books were met with huge success upon publication and continue to enthrall readers of all ages to this day. According to Professor Edwin L. Miller, their publication "caused even severe critics of [Kipling's] previous work to admit that he is a writer of inspired genius." Largely focused on man's relationship to nature, the Jungle Books in part narrate the tales of Mowgli, a human ("man-cub") raised by wolves, as he tries to find his proper place in the world. For contributions like these, Kipling became the first English-language writer, and the youngest ever, to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature. Fine (Item #8119)