The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling, Illustrated by Kurt Wiese, 1938

Kipling, Rudyard. The Jungle Book. Illustrated by Kurt Wiese. New York: Doubleday, Doran & Company, Inc. 1938. Early reprint. In the original pictorial dust jacket and boards. Illustrated with color frontispiece and black and white in-text illustrations. 

Presented is a charming 1938 edition of The Jungle Book by English author Rudyard Kipling, featuring illustrations by Kurt Wiese. This early 20th century reprint was published in New York by Doubleday, Doran & Company in 1938. It is presented here in its original pictorial dust jacket and boards, with bright yellow and black illustrated endpapers, color frontispiece, and black and white in-text illustrations by Weise. 

The Jungle Book is a collection of stories, mostly based on ancient Indian fables and tales. Kipling's stories were first printed in magazines in 1893 and 1894. The Jungle Book was first published in book form in 1894. It included seven stories and seven poems, with eight illustrations by the author’s father, John Lockwood Kipling. Due to its success, The Second Jungle Book was published a year later in 1895. That collection featured eight stories and eight poems, with thirty-seven illustrations by the author’s father.

The stories are written as fables, using anthropomorphic animals to teach moral lessons about identity, loyalty, and belonging. The principal character is a boy named Mowgli, found abandoned in the Indian jungle by Father Wolf, and raised as a “man-cub” by wolves. Most of the other characters are animals, like Shere Khan the tiger, Baloo the bear, and Bagheera the panther. Together, the stories form an adventurous, yet classic, coming-of-age narrative. 

Set in colonial India, The Jungle Book offered an exotic and culturally rich backdrop that fascinated the Western readers of the late 1890s. Kipling's poetic language, layered symbolism, and exploration of the "law of the jungle" added depth, while its release during the rise of children's literature and the British Empire boosted its popularity. Its lasting cultural impact has been reinforced by reprints and reissues of the original stories, as well as more modern book and movie adaptations. 

Kurt Wiese (1987-1974) was one of the most prolific and gifted children’s book illustrators of the twentieth century. With more than three hundred illustrated books to his credit, Wiese’s first books were among the titles that established the genesis of the American picture book. Wiese worked for the three preeminent children’s book editors in his time, Louise Seaman of Macmillan, May Massee of Double­day, and Ernestine Evans of Coward-McCann. The critic Barbara Bader wrote that Wiese had “an outstanding visual memory. He could work in a variety of mediums and styles, draw animals and people with equal sympathy, convey ideas and information effectively, and he became, almost immediately, the most versatile and productive artist in the field of children’s books.”

Wiese used his particular interest in animals and amazing visual memory to remember all he had observed on his travels in the Far East during the early 1900s, first as a salesman in China and then as a prisoner-of-war of the Japanese. He then applied those experiences to his Jungle Book illustrations. His illustration style for The Jungle Book focused on the play of light and shadow on silhouette and form and capturing the energy of movement of Mowgli and every animal of the jungle.

CONDITION:

Good condition. Early reprint. In the original pictorial dust jacket and boards. Dust jacket is clipped, but the $2.50 price is still visible. Losses to top corners of dust jacket, specifically along top and bottom of spine, but colors are still vibrant. Dust jacket protected in mylar. Bright colorful endpaper and pastedowns. Past owner’s colorful bookplate on pastedown. Clean internally, light even toning. With stunning full color frontispiece illustration, and full and half page black and white illustrations throughout.

Accompanied by our company's letter of authenticity.