Twenty-seven (27) volumes of the Works of Rudyard Kipling, including many first editions plus two (2) works about Kipling, uniformly bound in contemporary 3/4 leather with marbled boards, raised spine bands, and gilt titles, dates, and accents. Each stamped "Bound by Zaehnsdorf” inside front endpaper. For the hardcovers, Zaehnsdorf preserved the books' original spines and cloth covers and bound them in at the rear of each volume, while softcover and pamphlet copies are bound intact in their proper sequence. From the personal library of Lillian Stokes Gillespie (1869-1915). Volumes include: Two (2) copies of LIFE'S HANDICAP, London (and New York:, MacMillan And Co, 1891; Printed by R & R Clark, Edinburgh on verso of title page. 8vo, 352pp. First UK Edition. AMERICAN NOTES: New York, Ivers and Co., 1891. First Edition in original first issue wrappers with "86 Nassau St" address, Colgate advertisement, and THE BOTTLE IMP by Robert Louis Stevenson following. THE NAULAHKA, A Story of West and East, by Rudyard Kipling And Wolcott Balestier, London: William Heinemann Bedford Street, W. C. 1892. 8vo, 276pp. First Edition. MANY INVENTIONS, London: Macmillan and Co. and New York 1893. 8v0, 366pp. First UK Edition. MY FIRST BOOK, London: Chatto & Windus, Piccadilly 1894. The Experiences of [22 names of authors] With an Introduction by Jerome K. Jerome and 185 Illustrations. 8vo, 312pp. Multiple illustrations; advertisements. SOLDIER TALES, London: MacMillan And Co, 1896. First UK Edition. THE SEVEN SEAS, London: Methuen & Co., 1896. First UK Edition. 8vo, 230pp. Methuen 1896 catalog in rear. CAPTAINS COURAGEOUS, A Story of the Grand Banks, With Illustrations by I. W. Taber, London: Macmillan and Co., Limited, 1897. 8vo, 246pp.First UK Edition. Original blue/gilt illustrated covers bound in rear. A FLEET IN BEING, Notes of Two Trips with the Channel Squadron By Rudyard Kipling, London: Macmillan and Co., Limited, New York: The Macmillan Company,1898. 8vo, 84pp. THE DAY'S WORK, London: Macmillan and Co., Limited, 1898. 8vo, 381pp. First UK Edition. STALKY & CO, London: Macmillan and Co., Limited, 1899. 8vo, 272pp. First UK Edition. This is the first volume of the Uniform edition, with the elephant's head in gold on the front cover, and with the title printed within red lines. A KEN OF KIPLING by Will M. Clemens, New York: New Amsterdam Book Company, 1899. Being A Biographical Sketch of Rudyard Kipling, With an Appreciation and Some Anecdotes. FROM SEA TO SEA (vols. 1 & 2), New York: Doubleday & McClure Company, 1899. 8vo, Vol. I 460pp, Vol. II 400pp. First US Edition, predating the UK Edition (1900). WAR'S BRIGHTER SIDE, New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1901. The Story of "The Friend" Newspaper Edited by the Correspondents with Lord Roberts's forces, March-April, 1900 By Julian Ralph (One of the Editors) With contributions from A. Conan Doyle, Rudyard Kipling, and others, and a letter from Earl Roberts With Fifteen Illustrations. 8vo, 471pp. JUST SO STORIES, For Little Children, Illustrated by the Author. London: Macmillan and Co., Limited, 1902. 4vo 252pp. Original first state covers bound in at the rear. First UK Edition. THE FIVE NATIONS, London: Methuen and Co. 36 Essex Street W. C., 1903. 8vo, 216pp. First UK Edition. Two hundred copies of this First Edition were printed on large paper and only thirty on "Japan paper". TRAFFICS AND DISCOVERIES, London: Macmillan and Co., Limited, 1904. 8vo, 394pp. First UK Edition. THE ARMY OF A DREAM, London: Macmillan & Company, Limited, 1905. 8vo. 64pp. Original buff paper wrappers with red lettering intact. THEY, London: MacMillan And Co, Ltd. 1905. With Illustrations by F. H. Townsend. 80 leaves numbered 7-80, printed on one side only; 15 colored illustrations, included in the pagination. The imprint on page 80 of the first issue is "Bemrose Dalziel". First UK Edition. PUCK OF POOK'S HILL, London: Macmillan and Co., Limited, 1906. 8vo, 306pp. First UK Edition. DOCTORS, An Address Delivered to the Students of the Medical School of the Middlesex Hospital, 1st October, 1908. London: MacMillan And Co, Ltd., 1908. 12vo; 31pp. First Edition. ACTIONS AND REACTIONS, London: MacMillan And Co, Ltd., 1909. 8vo 302pp. First UK Edition. THE DEAD KING, London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1910. 8vo, 24 unnumbered leaves, in original lavender paper wrappers and cloth with a medallion head of King Edward VII in silver. Decorative woodcuts and borders. REWARDS AND FAIRIES, London: MacMillan And Co, Ltd., 1910. 8vo 340pp. Illustrations by Frank Craig. First UK Edition. A HISTORY OF ENGLAND, by C. R. L. Fletcher and Rudyard Kipling; Pictures by Henry Ford. London: Oxford At the Clarendon Press, Henry Frowde and Hodder & Stoughton, 1911. 4vo edition. Contains maps, multiple colored plates, and drawings. SONGS FROM BOOKS, London, MacMillan And Co, Ltd., 1913. A DICTIONARY OF THE CHARACTERS AND SCENES IN THE STORIES AND POEMS OF RUDYARD KIPLING, 1886-1911, by W. Arthur Young. London: George Routledge and Sons, Ltd, 1911. Labeled "A Rudyard Kipling Dictionary" on spine. 231 pp. Note: Joseph Zaehnsdorf opened a bookbinding shop in London in 1842 and by the 1860s was regarded as one of the finest in London. Upon his death in 1886, the business passed to his son, Joseph William. Around the turn of the century, the firm was appointed as bookbinders and booksellers to Edward VII and George V. In 1920, Joseph William retired, leaving his son, Ernest to run the business, until the firm was sold in 1947. (Source: University of Oregon) Note: Lillian May (Stokes) Gillespie (1869-1915) was an independently wealthy socialite from the Stokes family of New York, a line of enormously successful financiers and merchants.
Condition
All in very good overall condition with slight rubbing to covers, light toning to page edges, and corner bumps; a few instances of pencil notations, previous owner bookplates, and bookseller interior labels scattered throughout the volumes. Four volumes with detached front covers: AMERICAN NOTES, THE FIVE NATIONS, JUST SO STORIES, and (one) LIFE'S HANDICAP.
