Kipling Rudyard

Kipling Rudyard — marelibri

KIPLING, Rudyard; TABER, Isaiah West, illustratorABAA

'Captains Courageous'

ref. 06549London: Macmillan and Co. Limited 1897. The Grand Banks - Where Boys Become Men" A Classic of the Sea KIPLING Rudyard. 'Captains Courageous' A Story of the Grand Banks. With illustrations by I. W. Taber. London: Macmillan and Co. Limited 1897. First edition. Small octavo 7 1/4 x 4 3/4 inches; 184 x 121 mm. viii 245 1 blank 2 advertisements pp. With twenty-two full-page illustrations by I. W. Taber. Publisher's blue cloth front cover and spine pictorially decorated in gilt dark gray coated endpapers all edges gilt. Minimal rubbing to extremities small bookseller's description neatly affixed to front paste-down. A touch of very light foxing otherwise a near fine copy the notoriously fragile endpapers remarkably fresh and intact. One of Kipling's most enduring and widely read novels Captains Courageous stands apart within his canon as a pure sea story drawn from his own experiences aboard fishing vessels off the Grand Banks of Newfoundland. First published in 1897 it tells the story of Harvey Cheyne a spoiled American boy transformed by hardship discipline and camaraderie after being swept overboard and rescued by a Gloucester fishing schooner. The novel's vivid depiction of life at sea - its dangers routines and moral code - owes much to Kipling's gift for observation and his admiration for working seamen. The result is a narrative at once adventurous and deeply humane often compared to the great maritime traditions of Dana and Melville but with a distinctly Kiplingesque emphasis on character and duty. Isaiah West Taber 1830-1912 is a slightly deceptive figure in this context - he was not primarily a book illustrator but one of the leading American photographers of the late 19th century based in San Francisco. That explains why the plates in Captains Courageous feel unusually "real": they are derived from photographic studies not traditional drawn illustration. The publisher's pictorial gilt cloth binding with its bold maritime design is particularly attractive and increasingly difficult to find in such well-preserved condition especially with the delicate coated endpapers intact and the gilt still bright. A handsome and increasingly scarce first edition of one of the great literary evocations of the sea. London: Macmillan and Co., Limited, 1897 unknown books

David Brass Rare Books, Inc. · United States$850.00≈ €757.91

Kipling, RudyardBiblio.com

'Captains Courageous': A Story of the Grand Banks

1897ref. 20261016-CaptainsA handsome 1897 first UK edition second printing in the publisher's striking gilt pictorial cloth with I. W. Taber's atmospheric illustrations of life and peril on the Grand Banks. Author: Rudyard Kipling. Title: 'Captains Courageous': A Story of the Grand Banks. Illustrator: I. W. Taber Isaac Walton Taber. Publisher: London: Macmillan and Co. Limited 1897. Edition: First UK Edition Second Printing. The copyright page states "First Edition October 1897. Reprinted November 1897" identifying this copy as the second printing issued only one month after the first. Language: English. Pages: viii 245 pages publisher's advertisement. Size: 7.5 x 5 inches. Binding: Near fine original deep blue cloth binding beautifully decorated and lettered in gilt. The upper board carries a large maritime vignette of fishermen working from a small boat with a schooner beyond while the spine is similarly decorated with a figure at sea. Gilt titles and decorative wave borders remain notably bright and well preserved. Only light rubbing and minor wear to the spine ends and extremities as shown. Black coated endpapers. Hinges firm and binding sound. All edges gilt. Protected in a removable mylar cover. Content: Very good content complete tight and well preserved. Scattered light foxing and spotting principally to the preliminary leaves tissue guard and occasional margins as shown otherwise the pages remain clean and fresh. Original tissue guard retained to the frontispiece. Illustrations: Illustrated throughout by I. W. Taber including the dramatic frontispiece of the We're Here battling heavy seas and numerous full-page maritime scenes depicting schooners fishing boats the Grand Banks fleet and the principal characters. Taber's vigorous pen-and-ink work is particularly well suited to Kipling's North Atlantic setting. The book: Captains Courageous follows Harvey Cheyne the spoiled teenage son of a wealthy American industrialist who falls overboard from a transatlantic liner and is rescued by the crew of the Gloucester fishing schooner We're Here. Unable to persuade the fishermen of his wealth or importance Harvey is put to work alongside them for the remainder of the season. Life aboard the schooner—dangerous disciplined and utterly removed from his privileged upbringing—gradually transforms him. First published in book form in 1897 the novel grew from Kipling's fascination with New England maritime culture and the hazardous cod fishery of the Grand Banks. The result is one of his most vivid adventure stories rich in nautical detail fishermen's speech and descriptions of the North Atlantic. This London edition followed the American publication and appeared with Taber's illustrations and Macmillan's exceptionally handsome gilt pictorial binding. Macmillan and Co., Limited hardcover