Unsigned handwritten manuscript by Rudyard Kipling, one page, 7 x 8.25, no date but circa late 1890s. A page from Kipling's draft of the story 'Slaves of the Lamp,' published in Cosmopolis: A Literary Review in 1897 and collected in Stalky & Co. in 1899. In part: "and had seen much more than Gigadibs. The half understood verses lived and eat with him as the bedropped pages attested. McTuck was a phenomenally neat boy and they warred over their respective libraries. He was far away from all that world, drifting at large in some heavenly contraption called a gondola when McTuck beat on his head with the pilchard spoon, and he snarled. 'Beetle, you are oppressed, insulted, bullied…by that beast, King! You hear?' 'Oh shut up. I can write some more poetry about him if I am.'" Annotated in the lower right corner: "The above in the handwriting of Mr. Rudyard Kipling, and is part of his M.S. of Stalky & Co. It was given to me by the author's father (Mr. J. Lockwood Kipling), 29/3/1900." In fine condition, with intersecting folds and a small portrait of Kipling affixed to the lower left corner.
Part of a series of Kipling's classic school stories, Stalky & Co. follows the exploits of three adolescent boys at a British boarding school. In 1940, George Orwell wrote that Stalky & Co. had 'had an immense influence on boys' literature. This is a particularly interesting draft, as it differs substantially from the version as published.
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