KIPLING, Rudyard (1865-1936). Captains Courageous. London: ...

8vo. Illustrations by Isaac Walton Taber; 2pp. publisher’s ads at end. Original blue cloth decorated in gilt, edges gilt, black coated endpapers (spine a touch darkened, else fine); folding cloth chemise and slipcase. Provenance: Harry Buxton Forman (bookplate), noted bibliographer and antiquarian bookseller who was revealed to have been in a conspiracy with Thomas James Wise, who forged and sold a large quantity of “rare” pamphlets to collectors which is now regarded one of the most notorious literary scandals of the twentieth century.

FIRST ENGLISH EDITION, preceded by the American edition by one month. Captains Courageous was serialized in McClure's Magazine from November1896 to May 1896 and was an immediate success, with President Theodore Roosevelt writing three years later that Kipling had described “in the liveliest way just what a boy should be and do.” It was later adapted into film of the same name in 1937 starring Freddie Bartholomew and Spencer Tracy. A VERY FINE COPY. Livingston 137; Richards A103; Stewart 163.