The Second Jungle Book
By Rudyard Kipling
 
First edition, first impression: London: Macmillan and Co., 1895.
 
Octavo. Original blue cloth, front board and spine lettered and decorated in gilt, all edges gilt, dark green endpapers. With illustrations by J. Lockwood Kipling.
 
A very good copy indeed, the spine a little dulled with some of the usual rubbing to spine ends and corners; both boards and gilt remarkably clean and well-preserved otherwise, the binding square and firm.
 
Internally there is some spotting, primarily to the opening and closing leaves; however, the contents are, for the most part, nice and clean with only occasional sporadic instances of spotting.
 
Following the immense success of The Jungle Book in 1894, this second collection features five further stories of Mowgli, the man-cub, alongside other tales of the Indian jungle including Quiquern and The Red Dog. Rudyard Kipling, who in 1907 became the first English-language writer to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature, remains one of the most celebrated writers of the Victorian era.
 
The Jungle Book narratives have seen numerous high-profile adaptations, most notably the iconic Disney films of 1967 and 2016, and have left an indelible mark on the cultural landscape, even influencing the terminology and structure of the Scout movement founded by Kipling's friend Robert Baden-Powell. This edition is also notable for the illustrations provided by the author's father, John Lockwood Kipling, whose bas-relief designs add a distinctive tactile quality to the publication.