Publisher's Copies
Collection of 57 first American copyright editions in 76 volumes.
Garden City, New York: Doubleday, Page [later Doran] & Company, 1910-1944.
Price: $5,000.00
About the item
First American copyright editions, generally published in editions of 50-75 copies. 76 vols. 8vo. Publisher's Copies. Publisher's printed stapled wrappers, printed in green or black. Light foxing and shelfwear to wrappers. Provenance: Frank Nelson Doubleday.
Item #310968
A substantial collection of Kipling American copyright editions, comprising 57 of the 74 such editions published from 1910-1944. All of the multi-part issues — The New Army (6 parts), The Fringes of the Fleet (6 parts), Tales of "The Trade" (3 parts), Destroyers at Jutland (4 parts) — are complete, save for The War in the Mountains (5 parts), which is missing the first part. A complete listing available on request.
"[C]ontributing to the multiplicity of editions was the failure of the United States to enact international copyright protection until 1891, resulting in some American issues being the "true firsts" of Kipling's books. And while Kipling's trade editions soon began to be published in large numbers, after the American international copyright law's foundation date of July 1, 1891, his London literary agent A.P. Watt and his New York publisher Frank N. Doubleday made extensive use of limited printings — as few as 8 to 25 copies — to establish copyright in each country" (David Alan Richards, "Collecting Kipling").
