Kipling Rudyard

1518 · réf. 022154 — Naulakha Waite Vermont 15 June 1896. Framed Letter. Not examined out of frame. Appears Fine. Humorous handwritten one-page letter SIGNED "Rudyard Kipling" on his Naulakha Waite Vermont stationery to William Livingston Alden. In full: "Many thanks for your kind little note. It's a rummy land this side but there's a heap of material that I've got out of it. however i shall be clearing out in the Fall to get the taste out of my mouth. You see the devil of it is that a reporter once found out from a hired Swede girl that I occasionally sat down to dinner in that kind of rig which the downtrodden subjects of an effete monarchy call evening dress. Since then I have been considered with suspicion. But you'll see me come along in time back to civilization with a bicycle and a fishing-rod." Attractively and professionally matted and framed with a photographic reproduction of Kipling to an overall size of 15-1/2" x 13." Alden was an American journalist humorist and writer of fiction. He had been Consul General in Rome 1885-89 and from 1892 until his death in 1908 he lived in London where he was a regular contributor to magazines. The letterhead is of interest as in 1895 the U. S. Postmaster General authorized a special post office since Kipling received more mail than the largest business in the area. Waite Vermont existed solely in the home of and was named for the Kiplings' neighbor Anna F. Waite who was appointed Postmistress. The Kiplings left Vermont not long after this letter was written never to return Waite Vermont ceased to exist the following year. Today philatelists prize the Waite postmark being the only post office ever created for an individual. Kipling wrote THE JUNGLE BOOK and CAPTAINS COURAGEOUS in Vermont. It is said that Kipling's Naulakha is where skiing was introduced to Vermont and the site of the state's first tennis court. unknown books