KIPLING, Rudyard. If (Rare first American separate edition)

Garden City, New York: Doubleday Page and Company, 1910. Small oblong octavo. Original tan boards, printed in red and black within a decorative border. Title-page within a decorative green border. Printed at The Country Life Press, Garden City, N.Y. A very good copy, lightly rubbed, with rofessional repair to spine. In very good condition..

First American separate edition of Kipling’s celebrated poem If—, which first appeared in his Rewards and Fairies (1910). This charming little gift-book format was issued by Doubleday as a standalone, designed for wide circulation, and has become a desirable collectible in its own right. The oblong format and decorative printing underline the publisher’s intention of elevating the piece into an almost devotional work, suitable for presentation and school prizes.

If— has become one of the most frequently quoted and anthologised poems in the English language, often hailed as the epitome of Edwardian stoicism and moral self-discipline. Its resonance was such that a framed copy was said to have hung in the study of nearly every British schoolmaster of the period, and lines from the poem still adorn the player’s entrance to Centre Court at Wimbledon.

Originally written in 1895, IF was inspired by the actions of Dr. Leander Starr Jameson, a British Officer whose forces were defeated by the Boers in 1895, but who was portrayed as a victorious hero by the British press, the poem is a powerful masterclass in maintaining the British stiff upper lip. --- David Alan Richards; Rudyard Kipling. A Bibliography, A244.

Scarce in good condition due to its fragile paper-covered boards and ephemeral nature. This version with the green colour printing is Richards' variant iii (a).

[L4 7C]