Cover of another edition of this book. The Macmillan 1901 binding has not been photographed yet.
Identification points are listed only where two independent sources agree. Last reviewed 20 Oct 2026.
No sales recorded yet
We value a printing from verified sales of that exact printing, and none of the first impression has come to auction in our records so far. The chart and the value by condition appear here as soon as one does.
Owners and wanters are told when a figure is ready.
Published by Macmillan in London in October 1901 after serialisation in McClure's and Cassell's magazines. The Doubleday edition in New York is regarded as slightly earlier in the same month, so the Macmillan is the first English edition. Octavo in red cloth with a gilt Ganesha (elephant's head) device on the upper board and gilt lettering on the spine, illustrated by the author's father, John Lockwood Kipling, with a frontispiece protected by a tissue guard. Two pages of publisher's advertisements follow the text. Reference: Livingston 250 (also Stewart 254, Richards A174). Check that the title page is dated 1901 and the verso carries no reprint notice.
Read the full guide to Macmillan first editions, decade by decade, and check your copy's copyright page against it. Our number line decoder reads the printing from the row of numbers.
We have not yet confirmed the issue points that tell this first impression from later ones. Until we do, compare your copy's title page and copyright page with the publisher, place and year above: any later printing or edition statement means it is not this one.
Know the points? Tell us. We publish them, with credit, once a second source agrees.
The cover image shows this book but may not be this edition or printing.
Macmillan, London, in 1901, in hardback.
Points of issue are listed only where at least two independent sources agree. Last reviewed 20 October 2026. Reviewed by Harriet Ellis; read how we check facts.
To identify a first edition, check that your copy is the first printing of the first edition. Read the copyright …
Read the guide →6 min readBook condition grading uses a six-step trade scale: Fine, Near Fine, Very Good, Good, Fair and Poor. Collectors grade the …
Read the guide →7 min readFor most books published since the 1920s, the original dust jacket carries a large share of the value, often most …
Read the guide →