THE KIPLING SOCIETY
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The Society The Kipling Society is for everyone interested in the prose and verse, and life and times, of Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936). Best selling poet, children's author, novelist, supreme master of the short story, he enriched the English language with more memorable quotations than any other writer of his time. This is one of the most active and enduring literary societies in Britain and, as the only one which focuses on Kipling and his place in English Literature, attracts a world-wide membership. The Society is a Registered Charity and a voluntary, non-profit-making organisation. Its activities, which are controlled by a Council, and run by the Secretary and honorary officials, include:
Origins THE KIPLING SOCIETY was founded in 1927 by J H C Brooking and a few fellow enthusiasts, including Kipling's school-friends Major General L C Dunsterville and G C Beresford, who featured in Stalky & Co. as "Stalky" and "M'Turk". The Society prospered, and soon attracted hundreds of members from all over the world. The Kipling Library The Society maintains a comprehensive research library housed at City University, London, which may be consulted by members. It includes a full set of back numbers of the Kipling Journal. The full catalogue of the library is available on this site to members of the Society. You can contact the Hon. Librarian, John Walker, by email at jwawalker@gmail.com If you have an interest in Kipling you may also like to know of the Athenaeum Projects at City University, which have provided an electronic archive for the Athenaeum.  This weekly periodical was published between 1828 and 1923, covering much of the period when Kipling's works were first published, and contained many literary articles and reviews. |
Joining the Society To join click here  or email to johnrad@btinternet.com for a registration form.If you wish to join you may be assured of a friendly welcome. Expert knowledge is certainly not needed. Most members simply share an enthusiasm for Kipling's writings and an interest in the times through which he lived. For the basic annual subscription (£24 in the UK, see below for other rates) you will receive four quarterly issues of the Kipling Journal and access to the Members' pages of this web-site, including the archive of over 300 back-numbers of the Kipling Journal. If you are within reach of London, you may also attend the Society's regular meetings and other functions. If you are under 28, the basic annual UK subscription is only £12. Rates for members outside the UK have to include the extra postage and are:
If you are already a Member, click here  to send in your proposed username and password of choice (6 to 8 characters each) for access to the Members' pages of this site.The Kipling Journal The Kipling Journal aims to entertain and inform. It is sent to subscription paying members all over the world free of charge. This includes individual members, libraries, and English faculties. Since 1927, the Journal has published important items by Kipling, not readily found elsewhere, valuable historical information, and literary comment by authorities in their field.  Click here for the contents of the latest edition.For the serious Kipling scholar, who cannot afford to overlook the Journal, a comprehensive index of the entire run since 1927 is available via this site to members of the Society. Some back numbers are also available from: Michael Smith, 2 Brownleaf Road, Brighton BN2 6LB, England. We are in the process of exploring the possibility of making the entire run of backnumbers available to members in electronic form, either on the Web, or on CD-ROM. The Editor of the Journal, David Page can be contacted by email at davpag@yahoo.co.uk Contacting the Society ![[a picture of Jane Keskar]](pix/jane1.jpg) The Society's postal address is: The Kipling Society, 6 Clifton Road, London W9 1SS, England. You can contact the Hon. Secretary by email at jmkeskar@btinternet.com. |
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Kipling in America A Kipling Society Symposium, October 2013  The Kipling Society has arranged a Symposium on Kipling's years in the New England state of Vermont, where - newly married to an American wife - he made his home from 1892 to 1896. The Symposium, to be held on October 7th at Marlboro College, near Brattleboro, will be addressed by a number of distinguished Kipling scholars, British and American, and there will be a visit on October 8th to the nearby Kipling house, "Naulakha". For details click here  The new complete edition of Kipling's verse  Professor Thomas Pinney's magisterial three-volume complete edition of the verse has just been published by Cambridge University Press. Of over 1300 poems in this edition, over 500 have never before been collected, and 50 are previously unpublished. Every authorised version of the collected poems, from original periodical publication to the final edition in Kipling's lifetime, has been included to produce a full record of the author's additions, deletions and alterations. A note to each poem provides a record of publication and, where possible, information about its occasion and context. Kipling and Trix A new novel by Mary Hamer  Kipling and Trix tells the story of two lives. Filled with drama, they share a childhood darkened by terrors that will colour the years to come, as brother and sister take very different paths. Can brother and sister survive the different catastrophes that befall them as adults and find the resilience to start over again? Based on extensive research, Kipling and Trix makes emotional sense of these extraordinary and courageous lives, presenting them here together for the first time. You can find an interview with Mary about the book on Words Unlimited. Click here to buy the book from Waterstone's Click here to buy it from Amazon UK A Kipling Society for Estonia  The Rudyard Kipling Society of Estonia is currently in formation. It is hoped that the society will be able to foster new interest in Kipling and open up unexplored avenues of scholarly research. The main focus will be on the life and writings of Rudyard Kipling, but the society will also have an interest in relevant comparative literature. For more information please email James Montgomery Wollen: j.montgomery.wollen@gmail.com A Kipling Fellowship at Cambridge  Magdalene College Cambridge, with its close connection to Rudyard Kipling, offers a one-term Honorary Fellowship to a Kipling scholar. This provides accommodation and meals at the Fellows common table but no stipend. Candidates are expected to be established, but not necessarily senior, academics, researching a subject relating to Kipling. Applications can be made directly to the President of the College (postcode Cambridge, CB3 0AG) The former Kipling Fellow, Jeffery Lewins (jl22@cam.ac.uk) will be glad to advise further. Kipling in Afghanistan  Fred Lerner reports that Radio Nederland's program, "The State We're In", is broadcast on many public radio stations in the USA. A recent instalment, was called "Mightier than the Sword". It included an interview with "a former Afghan governor who uses the power of poetry to bring peace to warring factions". When asked his favorite poem, he recited (in English and from memory) "If—" . The broadcast can be heard via the RNW web-site. Help for Heroes Help for Heroes gives practical, direct support for soldiers wounded in recent wars.  In 2009 former Army Captain James Milton walked barefoot along the 130 mile pilgrim route from Winchester to Canterbury, to raise more than £4,000 for the charity. He served as an Army officer between 1998 and 2007, including three tours in Iraq.He has written a series of soldier poems , which we are glad to be able to publish on this site. They echo his wide reading of Kipling, the ballad tradition, the belief that poems should be read aloud, and the black humour. You can contact James by email at jimilton_2000@yahoo.co.uk.Kipling and Orwell  Launched in 2011, The Orwell Society is a means by which anyone can become better acquainted with, and share their appreciation for, the life and work of George Orwell, one of the most original and influential voices in 20th Century literature, author of 1984, Animal Farm and The Road to Wigan Pier. Rudyard Kipling was among his favourite writers, and he wrote about him on several occasions, notably in his review of T S Eliot's selection of Kipling's verse in 1941, collected in Kipling's Mind and Art, edited by Andrew Rutherford, (Oliver and Boyd, 1964). Man and Mason Kipling and Freemasonry  This new book by Richard Jaffa shows how at two key stages in his life, Kipling wrote of Freemasonry, not only for dramatic impact but as a source of spiritual comfort after the horrors of the Great War. Richard Jaffa has been a Freemason for thirty years, and Master of four Lodges. For a copy of his book (£15 including P & P) you can write to him at 32 Malcolmson Close, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 3LS, or email to RJaffa3266@aol.com. Oak and Ash and Thorn  Folk Police Recordings are releasing an album on February 21st with a selection of artists from the current folk scene performing new versions of Peter Bellamy's settings of various of RK's poems from Puck of Pook's Hill and Rewards and Fairies. These settings have long been out of print. The Cat that Walked by Himself  The British Library has published a new edition of this timeless classic from the Just So Stories, together with "How the Camel Got His Hump", "How the Rhinoceros Got His Skin" and "The Elephant's Child", price £7.95. It is available on line from the British Library shop at 96 Euston Road, London NW, or enquire by phone to (020) 7412 7735, or by e-mail to bl-shop@bl.uk. Kipling read aloud  The Librivox on line audio library offers files of various poems and stories by Kipling which can be freely downloaded. Kipling Abroad, Traffics and Discoveries from Burma to Brazil  A new selection of his most descriptive and revealing travel writing, introduced and edited by Andrew Lycett, published on January 11th 2010 by I.B.Tauris. Original watercolour illustrations  Jennings Fine Art are selling 26 watercolour drawings, circa 1920, by Dorothy Carleton Smyth, illustrating the titles of Kipling's works. These are possibly original designs for "vellucent" bindings for a de luxe edition. If you are interested in seeing or acquiring them, contact Neil Jennings on 07812 994558. Kipling set to music  The American singer and song-writer Leslie Fish has set many of Kipling's poems to music, as you will see from Brian Mattinson's work on the musical settings of the verse. You will find details of her latest albums on her web-site. Spool down to 'enter here', click on 'BUY CD'S' in the sidebar, and if you spool down you will find details of her album "Cold Iron" which has fifteen of the poems set to music, and "Our Fathers of Old" with another fourteen. Rudyard Kipling's Uncollected Speeches: A Second Book of Words  ELT Press at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro has published Rudyard Kipling's Uncollected Speeches which includes forty-eight speeches, on a variety of topics, and to a variety of audiences, edited by Professor Thomas Pinney. If you are interested in acquiring a copy, contact Robert Langenfeld at ELT Press (langenfeld@uncg.edu). Kipling Sahib: India and the Making of Rudyard Kipling  This masterly study by Charles Allen, whose great-grandfather gave 16-year-old 'Ruddy' his first job on the Civil and Military Gazette in Lahore, is published by Little Brown on November 1st. Charles Allen focuses on Kipling's younger years from 1865 to 1900: his Indian childhood, abandonment in England, return to India and coming of age. He traces the Indian experiences of Kipling’s parents, Lockwood and Alice, and reveals the hidebound culture the young writer was born into and returned to as a teenager - and the painful process by which he shook off his chains to become a writer of genius. It is a work of enormous sympathy for a man – though not blind to Kipling’s failings – and the country he loved. Cross-references in the 'Puck' stories and "The White Man's Burden"  ELT Press at Greensboro in North Carolina, publishers of the periodical English Literature in Transition, are bringing out two special issues to mark their fiftieth year, one of which (50:2,2007) includes a most interesting article by Lisa Lewis on "References", "Cross-references" and Notions of History in Kipling's Puck of Pook's Hill, and Rewards and Fairies, and another by Patrick Brantlinger on "The White Man's Burden". If you would like a copy of these or other articles, contact The University of North Carolina, PO Box 26170, Greenboro NC 27402-6170, USA., or email to langenfeld@uncg.edu "If—" sung by Rajesh David  Rajesh David is a singer and composer, trained in the Indian classical tradition. He learned "If—" as a young boy at school in Bombay, and was later inspired to compose this work, which blends Western orchestration with elements of Indian classical music. This CD costs £6 (including p. & p.) within the UK and £6.50 abroad. Please contact Rajesh David at urbaneclipse@lycos.com An etching of Rudyard Lake  Grosvenor Prints are offering this etching in black & white ink on slightly browned paper (c.1900) for sale, priced at £30. It measures 8 x 5 3/4 ins. If you are interested, please contact them at 19 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London WC2H 9JN, tel +44 (0) 20 7836 1979; or email to grosvenorprints@btinternet.com A painting of Rottingdean  This painting (44 x 59 cm) in oils by Jean Farnsworth (1976), of Rottingdean, where Kipling lived before he moved to Bateman's, is available for sale at £330. If you are interested in acquiring it, please contact Mr H Boehm (phone 0115 9119746) Rudyard Kipling A literary life, by Philip Mallett  This new, and well-regarded study is available from the web-site of Palgrave Macmillan. They are also offering the six volumes of Thomas Pinney's superbly edited "Letters of Rudyard Kipling", either singly or as a set. Kipling's America  Between 1889 and 1895, while travelling in the United States, and - later - living in Vermont, Kipling wrote a number of letters and articles about America. In this new collection David Stewart brings them all together, in their original form, with an illuminating commentary. A map of Bateman's A member of the Kipling Society, Dennis Ball, A.R.I.B.A., has done a measured survey of the gardens at Bateman's, in the form of a handsome watercolour, which provides a detailed and accurate aerial view of the house and gardens. It was shown at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition in 1998.  Dennis Ball is offering a reduced version of the work, measuring 45cms by 22cms, with a white border of 4cms, to anyone interested, at a price of £6.00 plus postage. If you are interested in acquiring a copy, you can get in touch with him at ballgirard@btopenworld.com. Proofs of Holy Writ There has been much interest lately in 'Proofs of Holy Writ', Kipling's last tale. It is comparatively little known, since it was completed too late for inclusion in his last collection 'Limits and Renewals'. It has been reprinted twice in the Kipling Journal, and we are glad to report that we have now published it on this site, by kind agreement of the National Trust. Forthcoming events Wednesday, 10 July 2013 5.30 for 6 p.m. in the Mountbatten Room, Royal Overseas League. Readings and Thoughts, an entertainment by our members Wednesday, 11 September 2013 5.30 for 6 p.m. in the Mountbatten Room, Royal Overseas League. Professor Thomas Pinney, Pomona Collefge, Confessions of an editor. Wednesday, 13 November 2013 5.30 for 6 p.m. in the Mountbatten Room, Royal Overseas League. Professor Daniel Karlin, the University of Bristol. Kipling's French, People, Place, and Language. Monday, 7 October 2013 09.15 - 18.45 at Marlboro College, near Brattleboro, Vermont, a Kipling Society Symposium "Kipling in America. For details click here Tuesday 8 October 2013 10.00 - 13.00 at "Naulakha", the Kipling House, a visit followed by a talk on "Vermont and Vermonters in Kipling's day" by Charles Fish, of the Dummerston Hisitorical Society. My Boy Jack: the Search for Kipling's Only Son  A new and updated edition of this classic closely researched study by Toni and Valmai Holt has been published by Leo Cooper/Pen & Sword, at £12.95. It tells the sad tale of the life and early death on the battlefield of John Kipling, Rudyard Kipling's only son. John Kipling's body was never found, but in 1992 the War Graves Commission announced that a grave in St Mary's Military Cemetery had been identified as his, and this view has been backed by the Ministry of Defence. As they explain in this fascinating book the Holts, who have gone into the story in great detail, remain sceptical about the official view. The Irish Guards in the Great War  Readers will be interested to know that the two classic volumes of "The Irish Guards in the Great War", edited by George Webb, are available from PostScript Books. You can order by post (24 Langford Road, London SW17, 7PL), by phone (020 8767 7421), or via the PostScript website. Modern translations of Kipling into Russian. Three new translations into Russian of works by Rudyard Kipling have just been published; "Actions and Reactions", "Traffics and Discoveries", and Captains Courageous. The translator is Captain Nikolai Tess, a Latvian by birth, educated there and in Russia. They have been copiously annotated to explain some of the 'English-isms' and subtleties of Kipling's tales.  The print run has been limited, but copies may be obtained by contacting Captain Nikolai Tess, 126 rue du General de Gaulle, 95620 Parmain, FRANCE; e-mail ntess@yahoo.com. The cost is €14.00, plus postage and packing. Kipling and his first publisher A recent book edited by Professor Thomas Pinney and David Alan Richards, which publishes RK's magisterial letters to Thacker, Spink and Co between 1886 and 1890, is available from the Rivendale Press in High Wycombe, price £25.00 including p & p anywhere in the world. The letters demonstrate vividly the young RK's grasp of the technicalities of book production, his down to earth commercial instincts, and his early determination not to be done down by his publishers. To place an order you can phone Rivendale Press on +44 (0) 1494 562 266 or email them to sales@rivendalepress.com. You can also visit their web-site. 'The Hated Wife' Carrie Kipling 1862-1939  Adam Nicolson's study of Carrie Kipling has recently been published by Short Books. Drawing on a rich archive of diaries and letters, he has exposed some of the tensions at the heart of the Kipling's marriage. Yet as he shows, it was Carrie who saw that Rudyard had the privacy he needed for his writing, and provided the backbone that her husband often preached but privately lacked. One critic, Nicci Gerrard, has written, 'Adam Nicolson takes Mrs Kipling - for so long despised - and gives her back her humanity with clarity and grace.' The book is available from booksellers, price £4.99, or on line from Amazon.co.uk Staying in Burwash  Visitors to Burwash may be interested to know of Church House in the High Street, an elegant Georgian village house, where Mrs Rosemary Sutcliffe offers Bed and Breakfast. Click here for details.  There is also a wealth of information about Burwash and its surroundings on the village web-site. Barrack-room Ballads on CD  Two CD's of soldier songs of the Boer War and Great War are now available from ABC Classics in Australia including 21 original settings of the Barrack-Room Ballads performed by baritone Michael Halliwell and pianist David Miller. More information can be found on the ABC Shops web-site, or via Peter Maddigan at maddigan.peter@abc.net.au. Just So Stories on CD  A new, and very engaging, recording of the Just So Stories is available on two CDs, narrated by Michael Ducarel. It can be ordered from him by telephone on 0845 456 1052 (in the UK only), by email through michael.ducarel@ducarel.co.uk, or by letter to 14B Kennington Oval, London SE11 5SG. The price for the two-disc set, including P&P, is £15.00 within the UK, and £16.00 abroad; cheques should be drawn on a UK bank and will only be presented once the CD is sent out. |
Rudyard Kipling The long-awaited new bibliography  The launch in February 2010 of this new authoritative bibliography of Rudyard Kipling by David Alan Richards was a major publishing event for Kipling scholars and collectors. It is the first to appear in fifty years and the first to incorporate modern standards of collation. It fully describes 480 first editions, authorised and unauthorised, appearing as books, pamphlets, leaflets, and broadsides from 1881 through 2008 in British India, England, the United States, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, and Chile--a dozen of which titles were not noted by prior bibliographers. It is the product of many years of intensive work by David Richards, who is among the world's leading Kipling collectors. It is an indispensable guide to his works for any serious student or enthusiast. It is available in the UK from the British Library to Members of the Kipling Society at the special price of £110. Please address initial enquiries to the Society via johnrad@btinternet.com "Fringes of the Fleet" by Elgar and others - a new CD of a classic work  "Fringes of the Fleet", accompanied by the Guildford Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Tom Higgins, contains rarely heard music by Elgar, as well as works by John Ansell, Haydn Wood and Edward German. v For further information phone 020 8398 1586, email to sales@somm-recordings.com, or visit the SOMM web-site. Roberts and Kitchener in South Africa 1900-1902 by Rodney Atwood  The Second South African War brought victory over the Boer commandos after early reverses, and taught the British army many much-needed lessons. This study, published by Pen and Sword Books describes the role of Roberts and Kitchener in that victory. Kipling's poems and stories, "Recessional", "The Absent-Minded Beggar", "The Pro-consuls" and "A Sahibs' War", among others, appear in Rodney Atwood's story. Rodney Atwood is a member of the Kipling Society, and author of the article in the Kipling Journal of December 2011 on 'Kipling and the South African War: 'A Dress-rehearsal for Armageddon'. A battle in Afghanistan  As Charles Carrington recounts (p. 214) in 1894, on holiday in Bermuda, Kipling chanced to meet a sergeant in the Royal Berkshire Regiment who carried him off to the sergeant's mess. This enabled Kipling to hear at first hand of the terrible Battle of Maiwand, fourteen years before, during the Second Afghan War, when a wing of the regiment had been wiped out. Soon after, he wrote the grim ballad "That Day". This book tells the story of this fine Victorian Regiment. Copies can be ordered from this website. It is currently (Jan 23 2009) available via Amazon price £17.74 inc. p&p. This week's quotations (May 19th to 25th) Can you identify these extracts ? 1. …'The tension snapped. Simmons fell back on the arm-rack deliberately, - the men were at the far end of the room, - and took out his rifle and pack of ammunition. 'Don't go playing the goat, Sim!' said Losson. 'Put it down'; but there was a quaver in his voice. Another man stooped, slipped his boot, and hurled it at Simmons's head. The prompt answer was a shot which, fired at random, found its billet in Losson's throat… 2. …'The fallin'-block had sprung free behind a full charge av powder - good care I tuk to bite down the brass afther takin' out the bullet, that there might be somethin' to give ut full worth - an' had cut Tim from the lip to the corner av the right eye, lavin' the eyelid in tatters, an' so up along by the forehead to the hair…The dhrink and the stew that he was in pumped the blood strong… 3. …' "Knee to knee!" sings out Crook, wid a laugh whin the rush av our comin' into the gut shtopped, an' he was huggin' a hairy great Paythan, neither bein' able to do anything to the other, tho' both was wishful. ' "Breast to breast ! " he sez, as the Tyrone was pushin' us forward closer an' closer. ' "An' hand over back ! " sez a Sargint that was behin'. I saw a sword lick out past Crook's ear, an' the Paythan was tuk in the apple of his throat like a pig at Dromeen Fair. ' "Thank ye, Brother Inner Guard," sez Crook…' For the sources of these extracts click here If you would like to suggest other quotations for this feature, click here  Kipling's Sussex  Kipling wrote evocatively, in many stories and poems, of his beloved adopted county. This long-awaited study by Michael Smith, extensively illustrated in colour, sets Kipling's life and work within the context of the varied and beautiful Sussex landscape. It also includes the Sussex poems, and several others, together with two little-known prose works, "A Village Rifle Club" and "Railway Reform in Great Britain". There is also a glossary of Sussex words used by Kipling. Kipling's Sussex is available for £13 (inc. p.&p.) from Michael himself by email at brownleaf@talktalk.net or by phone on 01273 303719. Literary tours  The south-west of England is particularly rich in literary associations, with writers who include Thomas Hardy, Jane Austen, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, T S Eliot, and Rudyard Kipling. Harvey's Literary Tours are running six-day tours of "Landscapes that inspired Literature", including a visit to Westward Ho! the scene of Kipling's schooldays at USC. For the first tour, starting on April 21st, they are offering a special discount of £300 per couple plus £100 for members of the Kipling Society. For details contact Ross Harvey (harvey@literary-tours.com). Kipling's early childhood  There are plans for the restoration of the cottage on the site of the house in the grounds of the JJ School of Art in Mumbai, where Rudyard spent his early childhood. There is an excellent article by Zubair Ahmed about the project on the BBC News web-site. The Kipling Society of Australia  David Watts has been instrumental in relaunching the Kipling Society of Australia with successful and well-attended meetings and their own web-site. The Kent Conference This very successful international conference on Kipling studies was organised by the School of English at the University of Kent on September 7th and 8th 2007 to mark the centenary of Kipling's Nobel Prize for Literature. It was directed by Dr Jan Montefiore, author of a new study of Kipling;s writings, and sponsored by the Society. Click here for abstracts of the papers given.The Kipling plaque at U.S.C.  This plaque at 'Kipling Terrace' in Westward Ho!, dating from 1953, commemorating Kipling's time at United Services College, had become obscured by ivy and undergrowth. It was rediscovered by members of the local History Group, and has now been refurbished, thanks to a grant from Northam Town Council. Cecil Rhodes in Capetown  Big Blue Sky Tours are offering a "Rhodes Tour" to the places in Cape Town associated with Kipling's old friend, Cecil Rhodes. Further details can be found on their web-site. Kipling, by Jad Adams  This recent biography of Kipling, published by Haus Books in 2005, is by Jad Adams, who addressed the Kipling Society on April 11th. It has been well received: 'an important study of one of England's literary heroes' (Financial Times), 'admirable' (Spectator), 'a short and enjoyably confrontational biography' (The Times). Kipling and the Swastika  (A Ganesha plaque by Lockwood Kipling) There has been a lively correspondence on the Kipling Mailbase discussion group about Kipling's use of the Swastika. You may be interested in taking a look at Michael Smith's article on the subject on this site. The New Readers' Guide Work is in progress on a new Readers' Guide to the works of Rudyard Kipling, which can be found on this site. The project is a great collective endeavour by Kipling scholars and specialists around the world, and is well advanced. We hope that the new Guide will be interesting and helpful to Kipling readers old and new. Click here for details The Nicholson portrait Larkhall Fine Art are offering an original impression of this rare 1897 portrait by William Nicholson, printed from the original woodblock and hand-coloured by the artist. (Ref: Campbell 23A & 67A) It is signed in ink on the original backing board.  If you are interested, please contact Nicholas Lott at 10 Margaret's Buildings, Bath BA1 2LP, tel +44 (0) 1225 444480; or email to lott@larkhall.com Two new editions Barrack-Room Ballads  A new paperback edition of Barrack-room Ballads has recently been published in Signet Classics with an new Introduction and Annotation by Andrew Lycett. (ISBN 0-451-52886-7) Un Taureau intelligent... et autres contes cruels  Readers who are interested in foreign language translations of Kipling may like to see a new collection translated by Max Rives, who has been translating Kipling stories into French for many years. It is called "Un Taureau Intelligent" ("The Bull that Thought") and also includes "L'homme qui voulait être roi", "Mary Postgate", "Petit Tobrah", and L'aurore maltraité". The publisher is Actes Sud, and the ISBN number 2-7427-4471-1 'The Long Recessional: The Imperial Life of Rudyard Kipling' by David Gilmour  This recent (March 2002) study of Kipling's life, by David Gilmour, the acclaimed biographer of Lord Curzon, studies the public role of the man who so embodied the spirit of the British Empire. Some reviewers' comments on David Gilmour's book Andrew Lycett wrote in the Sunday Times: 'His meat is in his brilliant teasing-out of the political content in Kipling's fiction, verse, letters and other pronouncements...Along with his effortless command of his material, Gilmour impresses as a stylist: always to the point, able to sum up a verse or a character in a sentence.' Tom Paulin wrote in The Times Literary Supplement: '... The Long Recessional is an important act of cultural reclamation, which ought to bring readers back to the Kipling canon...' Andrew Roberts wrote in the Mail on Sunday: '...This beautifully written, touching, and occasionally very funny book is far more than an apology for the greatest phrase-maker in the English tongue since Shakespeare. It is a chivalrous yet scholarly rescue of a great man's reputation...Gilmour has gently taken the old boy by the elbow and helped him up on his rightful pedestal, carefully slipping the laureate's crown back upon that balding scalp. ' Kipling's 'Selected Poetry', edited by Craig Raine  Penguin have re-issued the Modern Classics edition of Kipling's Selected Poetry, which was first published in 1990. In his Introduction Craig Raine helps the reader to reassess RK's use of imagery, rhythm and sound, giving us less of the patriot and more of the poet. The Indian Railway Library Facsimiles at bargain prices!  Roger Ayers writes: Between 1986 and 1988, the R.S. Surtees Society, which publishes facsimiles of books by and about R.S. Surtees and his world, produced a set of reprints of the first six Kipling books to appear in A.H. Wheeler’s Indian Railway Library. These were some of the very first paperbacks ever to be published. These reprints, made with the agreement of Macmillan, were advertised at the time as being ‘as nearly as practicable’ facsimiles of the first Indian Editions and were bound in grey-green wrappers bearing the well-known cover illustrations of the originals. In fact, they were not all copied from first editions, or even Indian Editions, and some include English advertisements from Sampson, Low, Marston & Company editions. A further departure from the originals was the inclusion of illustrations by A.S.Hartrick from the 1896 edition of Soldier Stories in Soldiers Three and Wee Willie Winkie and the poem "Danny Deever" in Soldiers Three. However, the books are very close to the originals and, as a bonus, Philip Mason, author of Rudyard Kipling, The Glass, the Shadow and the Fire, wrote an introduction to each book specially for this set of reprints. They can now be found in second-hand bookshops, sometimes priced at £5 to £8, but the R.S.Surtees Society still has some available at 1986 - 1988 prices! These are: Soldiers Three £2.95 The Story of the Gadsbys £2.95 In Black and White £3.75 Under the Deodars £3.75 The Phantom Rickshaw and Other Eerie Tales £3.75 Wee Willie Winkle and other tales £3.75 Set of all 6 Indian Railway Library reprints £18.00 For UK and European Community by surface mail please add 15% to your order, for all other destinations by surface mail please add 25% to your order. Air Mail or special delivery prices on application. Tel (in UK): 01373 836937 Payment must be made in Sterling, either by cheque drawn on a U.K. bank or by International Money Order. Please send the order, together with your cheque/money order made payable to 'The R. S. Surtees Society', to: The R. S. Surtees Society, Manor Farm House, Nunney, Nr. Frome, Somerset, BA11 4NJ, ENGLAND. The Just So Songbook  Jeffery Lewins has produced a delightful CD of Edward German's settings of the songs that accompany Just So Stories, sung by Andrew Wickens, baritone. It is available from Jeffery, either at meetings of the Society, price £10, or by application to him at jl22@cam.ac.uk price £12.50 in the UK, or £13.50 overseas. Some reviewers' comments on the Lycett biography Sarah Sands wrote in 'The Daily Telegraph'of 3 September 1999: '...The revelation that caught the eye of the Sunday newspapers was that this old fuddy-duddy smoked opium and frequented brothels. It does not surprise me. Scratch a conservative and you will often find a raging anarchist; it is because he understands chaos that he sees the need to preserve order. What distinguished Kipling was his intellectual resistance to an unthinking liberal consensus...' 'A Circle of Sisters' by Judith Flanders  Rudyard Kipling's mother was one of the four remarkable Macdonald sisters, all of whom made their mark at the turn of the 19th century. Georgiana and Agnes married, respectively, Edward Burne-Jones and Edward Poynter. Louisa was the mother of Stanley Baldwin, later Prime-Minister. Alice was the mother of Rudyard Kipling. Judith Flanders' study of the sisters has been highly praised. Jan Morris calls it 'a terrific book ... a pageant-like exhibition of Victorian artistic and middle-class life.' Roy Porter comments that it is a revelation: '(it) blows away all the tired platitudes about Victorian women'. Hilary Mantel comments that 'Judith Flanders recreates their inner and outer worlds with wit, sympathy, and insight'. 'A Circle of Sisters' has just been published by Viking in hardback. Kipling's Forgotten Sister  A new collection of previously unpublished writings by Kipling's sister Trix, by Lorna Lee has been published. Michael Smith describes it as: "...a treasure trove of unpublished writings ... and a fascinating collection of facts, memories, and photographs." The book is available (price £24.95) through Forward Press Ltd, tel: 01733 898105, email: info@forwardpress.co.uk 'If..' set to music by Peter Crisp Peter Crisp, the Australian folk-singer and musician, writes; 'I was seven years old when my father walked into my bedroom, which I shared with my brother. He hammered a nail in the bedroom door, hung a framed poem on the nail and walked out without saying a word. The poem was 'If..', the same one given to him as a young man. It hung there in our thoughts and was constantly quoted by my father over the years until we left home as young men. I am now married with two young boys and they now have 'If..' hanging on their door'.  Peter has included a musical arrangement of 'If..' on a CD he has recently released. This is available at a price of $AU25.00 (approx £8.70) If you wish to order a copy, please email Peter at robontheknob@ozemail.com.au. Kipling Down Under  In 1891, the 25-year-old Rudyard Kipling, newly risen into world fame, spent two weeks in Australia, mostly in Melbourne, where he was received with all the curiosity and interest due to a celebrity. What he did in those two weeks, what he thought and said to his hosts, where he went, how he was treated, and what the Australians thought about it all, is fully presented in this account. The book is edited by Rosalind Kennedy and Thomas Pinney , and is available from Amazon, or your local bookstore. RK's poems on cassette. Michael Smith has drawn our attention to a selection from RK's verse on audio cassette at the very reasonable price of £3.99. There is a linking commentary, placing the poems in a biographical context. You can order the cassette through the Postscript web-site, quoting the code-number 18717. The 'If..' poster  This striking 'If..' poster has been produced by Stewart Superior Europe Ltd, who specialise in high quality original prints. It is available in A4 (21 x 30 cm) for £5.75 or A2 (42 x 60 cm) for £11.15, unframed. Framed versions cost £17.00 and £37.45. To order send a cheque to SS Europe, Unit 4, Chartridge Estate, Eskdale Road, Uxbridge UB8 2RT, UK, or phone (in UK) 01628 810260. Rudyard Kipling Readings, by Ralph Fiennes at Bateman's This CD, published by The National Trust, includes extracts from The Jungle Book, Something of Myself, Kim and The Just So Stories, as well as a number of poems including If-, Danny Deever, The Way Through the Woods, Cities and Thrones and Powers, Minesweepers and My Boy Jack. The CD is available from National Trust shops, price £9.99, or enquire at Droffig Recordings Ltd., (020 8444 5819 fax 020 8442 1005) This web-site The web-site continues to be popular, with over a million visitors since we launched in February 1999. In the 'Readers' Guide' section of the site, you will find a growing body of notes and explanations on Kipling's writings, updated daily as we complete new entries for the New Readers' Guide on Rudyard Kipling's Works. Staying in Naulakha A correspondent has reminded us that RK's house in Vermont can be rented by holidaymakers. It has four dounle bedrooms, and has been restored to a high standard. You can get details of rental terms in the UK from 01628-825920 or the Landmark Trust web-site, or in the USA on 802-254-6868 or their American site. Post-Colonial Kipling This conference was held from 5th-7th September 2001, a century after the publication of Kim, at Magdalene College Cambridge, where RK was an Honorary Fellow. There were four major themes, Kipling: a post-colonial assessment, Kipling and women, Kipling and film, and Kipling in translation. New editions of the rarer works David Page reports: The IMDb site (see above) can also re-direct you to the US Amazon site for a list of RK's books. I have only searched the secondhand sites until now. There seem to be three new series of reprints of many of RK's rarer works. Examples drawn from these lists are: Fredonia Books (NL) have a paperback series (usually $24.95 per volume) including: Abaft the Funnel France at War Eyes of Asia Sea Warfare The Naulahka Classic Books have a library binding edition (usually $98 per volume, frequently by special order) as part of a 'Collected Works of Rudyard Kipling', printed in May 2000, including: Schoolboy Lyrics Echoes An Almanack of Twelve Sports From Sea to Sea 'The Long Trail Kipling Round the World'  Meryl Macdonald's study of Kipling the globe-trotter is available - price £16.95 (inc. p & p) from Tideway House, PO Box 26, BRISTOL, BS9 1YH. This unusual non-literary biography discloses the man behind the name and its 'received' image; reveals why he wrote so compellingly about the sea and ships; had a love affair with steam and motive power, and became a pioneer motorist at the turn of the century.' Kipling on film  Roger Ayers writes: For all interested in Kipling's work as interpreted by film and TV film makers, I recommend the web-site of the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) IMDb has 14 pages on films based on RK's works, starting with 'The Vampire' in 1910, and lists the videos of them available in the UK and USA. It's a bit dodgy on Kipling's biography but the film details are most interesting, giving details down to the original cast in some cases. |
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The 1890's | Forthcoming events | The Kipling Society | Joining on line
The Kipling Library | This web-site | This week's quotations
RK on film| New editions of the rarer works| Selected Poetry of RK
RK by Andrew Lycett | 'The Hated Wife'
Kipling's Forgotten Sister | The Long Trail, by Meryl Macdonald
Staying in Burwash | Ralph Fiennes reads Kipling | The Cambridge Conference
'If..' set to music | The 'If..'manuscript | The 'If..'poster
Railway Library Facsimiles | Proofs of Holy Writ | Barrack-room Ballads on CD
The Jungle Play | Kipling Down Under | Staying in Naulakha
The Irish Guards in the Great War | 'The Long Recessional'