This title was featured in the Easton Press series, The 100 Greatest Books Ever Written. Published in 1980, bound in handsome Forest Green leather, and beautifully illustrated by David Gentleman, this edition would be a worthy addendum to your collectible books library. 

Specifics of this series from the Easton Press website:

*  Fully and tightly bound in genuine leather

*  22kt gold accents deeply inlaid on the "hubbed" spine.

*  Heavy duty binding boards... .

*  Superbly printed on acid-neutral paper... .

*  Sewn pages – not just glued like ordinary books.

*  ...moiré endpages and a satin-ribbon page marker.

*  Gilded page ends.

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"The story of Mowgli, the abandoned “man-cub” who is brought up by wolves in the jungles of Central India, is one of the greatest literary myths ever created. As he embarks on a series of thrilling escapades, Mowgli encounters such unforgettable creatures as the bear Baloo, the graceful black panther Bagheera and Shere Khan, the tiger with the blazing eyes. Other animal stories in The Jungle Books range from the dramatic battle between good and evil in “Rikki-tikki-tavi” to the macabre comedy, “The Undertakers.”

With The Jungle Books, Rudyard Kipling drew on ancient beast fables, Buddhist philosophy, and memories of his Anglo-Indian childhood to create a rich, symbolic portrait of man and nature, and an eternal classic of childhood. This edition contains both of Kipling’s Jungle Books, as well as “In the Rukh,” the story that introduced readers to Mowgli."

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"Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( . . . 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936) was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work.

Kipling's works of fiction include the Jungle Book duology (The Jungle Book, 1894; The Second Jungle Book, 1895), Kim (1901), the Just So Stories (1902) and many short stories, including 'The Man Who Would Be King' (1888). His poems include 'Mandalay' (1890), 'Gunga Din' (1890), 'The Gods of the Copybook Headings' (1919), 'The White Man's Burden' (1899), and 'If—' (1910). He is seen as an innovator in the art of the short story. His children's books are classics; one critic noted "a versatile and luminous narrative gift".

Kipling in the late 19th and early 20th centuries was among the United Kingdom's most popular writers. Henry James said 'Kipling strikes me personally as the most complete man of genius, as distinct from fine intelligence, that I have ever known.' In 1907, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, as the first English-language writer to receive the prize, and at 41, its youngest recipient to date. He was also sounded out for the British Poet Laureateship and several times for a knighthood, but declined both. Following his death in 1936, his ashes were interred at Poets' Corner, part of the South Transept of Westminster Abbey.

Kipling's subsequent reputation has changed with the political and social climate of the age. The contrasting views of him continued for much of the 20th century. Literary critic Douglas Kerr wrote: '[Kipling] is still an author who can inspire passionate disagreement and his place in literary and cultural history is far from settled. But as the age of the European empires recedes, he is recognised as an incomparable, if controversial, interpreter of how empire was experienced. That, and an increasing recognition of his extraordinary narrative gifts, make him a force to be reckoned with.'

The above text excerpts were taken from, respectively, Penguin Publishing Group (via Google Books) and Wikipedia. 

[Kipling, Rudyard. The Jungle Books. United Kingdom: Penguin Publishing Group, 2014.]