Departmental Ditties, and Other Verses

London: W. Thacker & Co., 1897 With illustrations by Dudley Cleaver. Ninth edition (Deluxe edition). One of 150 copies printed with two extra illustrations, signed and numbered by publisher on tipped-in limitation slip, this being number 68. Publisher's vellum spine and red cloth-covered boards, with gilt illustration to front board, spine lettered in gilt, and tissue-guarded plates. Very good, with a couple of tiny spots of dampstaining to front board, a touch of toning to top part of rear board, corners very lightly bumped, light offsetting to endpapers, previous owner's inscription to front free endpaper, and some exposed webbing to pp. 96 and 97. Overall, a sturdy and attractive copy. Departmental Ditties is Rudyard Kipling's first collection of poetry, which he published when he was only 21. The poems, which explore British military life, first appeared in the Civil and Military Gazette in Lahore, where Kipling worked as assistant editor. Kipling continued to revise and expand the collection in subsequent editions. Some of the poems included in the collection are: "Army Head-quarters", "Study of an Elevation, in Indian Ink," "Pink Dominoes," "The Lovers' Litany," "As the Bell Clinks," and "Christmas in India.". Signed. First Edition. Hard Cover. Near Fine. Illus. by Dudley Cleaver.