Just So Stories
by Kipling, Rudyard
- Used
- very good
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- Very Good
- Seller
-
Chelmsford, Essex, United Kingdom
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
First edition, first impression (Macmillan & Co, 1902).
Some fading to spine and bumping to corners with a bit of rubbing in places and some spotting to endpapers, contents very nice and clean otherwise. A very good example indeed.
Synopsis
The delightful tales of whales and cats and kangaroos and crabs – everything from how the camel got in a humph (and got his hump!) to how the alphabet was invented. Enchanting and funny, these fantastical stories continue to delight each and every generation.With an inspiring written, inspiring introduction by Jonathan Stroud, author of the Bartimaeus trilogy, Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling is one of the twelve wonderful classic stories being relaunched in Puffin Classics in March 2008.
Reviews
The original edition (1902) of Rudyard Kipling's yarns for children, JUST SO STORIES, has 12 tales. Some later editions added a 13th ("The Tabu Tale") and might have added a 14th from 1895, THE JUNGLE BOOK, on how the tiger got his stripes. *** Most of the stories are about animals, usually having one part of their anatomy being transformed by outside pressure ( e.g. a young elephant's puffy nose being stretched out to today's dimensions by a crocodile trying to drag the curious youngster for its dinner into "the great gray-green, greasy Limpopo River, all set about with fever-trees"). But my favorite is about the domestication by earliest humans of the first wild animals: dog, horse and cat. It is called "The Cat That Walked by Himself." And the free-spirited cat was notable for negotiating, not entirely to his satisfaction, the anarchical terms under which he will consent to live with Man, Woman and Baby "for always and always and always." *** Standing far apart from the animal tales are two inter-twined yarns: "How the First Letter Was Written" and "How The Alphabet Was Made." Rooting the alphabet as we know it in a young cave girl's efforts to send a message home through a stranger speaking a different language but carrying with him an incomprehensible sketch she had drawn, Kipling makes learning the alphabet extra fun for youngsters and adds a bit of spoofing history as well. *** It is easy to imagine that the "O my Best Beloved" to whom Kipling later told the JUST SO STORIES was his oldest child, Vermont-born Josephine ("josie") who died of pneumonia at age six. -OOO-
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Details
- Bookseller
- Fine Book Cellar Ltd. (GB)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 1476183139188
- Title
- Just So Stories
- Author
- Kipling, Rudyard
- Book Condition
- Used - Very Good
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- First
- Binding
- Hardcover
- Publisher
- Macmillan and Co
- Date Published
- 1902
- Weight
- 0.00 lbs
- Keywords
- Just So Stories, First, Rudyard Kipling
- Bookseller catalogs
- Modern First Editions; Children's Literature; Rudyard Kipling;
Terms of Sale
Fine Book Cellar Ltd.
30 day return guarantee, with full refund including original shipping costs for up to 30 days after delivery if an item arrives misdescribed or damaged.
About the Seller
Fine Book Cellar Ltd.
About Fine Book Cellar Ltd.
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