first edition
1892
by Kipling, Rudyard & Balestier, Wolcott
1892. London: William Heinemann, 1892. 8 pp undated ads. Original salmon cloth decorated in brown.
First Edition of Kipling's only serious attempt at literary collaboration. A Vermonter, Wolcott Balestier was an American author and publisher's agent in London; in fact in 1890 he and Heinemann had founded the Heinemann & Balestier publishing house in Leipzig (books in English for the Continental market). He had written about the American "Wild West," and Kipling of course had written about India. THE NAULAHKA (a misspelling of "naulakha," which in Hindu means nine lakhs, i.e. 900,000 rupees) is an odd tale that combines these two environments into "A Story of East and West" -- a man from a Western boom-town attempts to get possession of a fabulous jewel in India. In December 1891, six months before this was published, Balestier suddenly died (at age 29) of typhoid fever in Dresden. Kipling had met Wolcott's sister Carrie and just a month after Wolcott died, she became Kipling's wife; the Kiplings built their first home in Vermont and, in memory of her brother, named it "Naulakha" -- spelled correctly. (The newlywed Kiplings lived in Vermont for four years, toward the end of which Kipling wrote CAPTAINS COURAGEOUS about the Massachusetts fishing fleet; but it all came crashing down when Wolcott's brother Beatty was arrested for assaulting Kipling -- there was an altercation after Kipling had created a little garden on land he owned but had allowed Beatty to hay: the Kiplings fled to England.) This is an unusually clean copy, just about fine (a hint of rubbing at the spine ends); such condition is scarce for this book, in view of its soil-prone salmon-colored binding. Richards A66; Stewart 105; Livingston 85. (Inventory #: 15745)
First Edition of Kipling's only serious attempt at literary collaboration. A Vermonter, Wolcott Balestier was an American author and publisher's agent in London; in fact in 1890 he and Heinemann had founded the Heinemann & Balestier publishing house in Leipzig (books in English for the Continental market). He had written about the American "Wild West," and Kipling of course had written about India. THE NAULAHKA (a misspelling of "naulakha," which in Hindu means nine lakhs, i.e. 900,000 rupees) is an odd tale that combines these two environments into "A Story of East and West" -- a man from a Western boom-town attempts to get possession of a fabulous jewel in India. In December 1891, six months before this was published, Balestier suddenly died (at age 29) of typhoid fever in Dresden. Kipling had met Wolcott's sister Carrie and just a month after Wolcott died, she became Kipling's wife; the Kiplings built their first home in Vermont and, in memory of her brother, named it "Naulakha" -- spelled correctly. (The newlywed Kiplings lived in Vermont for four years, toward the end of which Kipling wrote CAPTAINS COURAGEOUS about the Massachusetts fishing fleet; but it all came crashing down when Wolcott's brother Beatty was arrested for assaulting Kipling -- there was an altercation after Kipling had created a little garden on land he owned but had allowed Beatty to hay: the Kiplings fled to England.) This is an unusually clean copy, just about fine (a hint of rubbing at the spine ends); such condition is scarce for this book, in view of its soil-prone salmon-colored binding. Richards A66; Stewart 105; Livingston 85. (Inventory #: 15745)
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