Departmental Ditties, Barrack-Room Ballads, And Other Verses, by Rudyard Kipling

United States Book Co., NY {n.d. 1890},

"Successors to John W. Lovell Co."

Richards Bibliography #D2: LOVELL’S UNIFORM SERIES EDITION 1890-91. Prior bibliographies: Stewart p. 558 (as ‘Authorized Edition’). Richards: "Lovell’s successor company United States Book Company used the occasion of the publication of Departmental Ditties Barrack-Room Ballads and Other Verses in December 1890 to start using a format which was eventually to become the "wine-colored" boxed "Uniform Series" (8vo, 7-5/8 x 5-3/16 in.; leaf 7-3/8 x 4-7/8 in.). The crisscross cloth boards, with beveled edges, are deep purplish red, lettered and ornamented in gilt, with "LOVELL" at the spine base of the first issue (missing from later issues); the endpapers are white, all edges are trimmed, with top edges gilt. Several of these Uniform Series editions are themselves First (American) Editions: Vol. V, Mine Own People [A54]; Vol. VI, The Light That Failed [A50]; and, in its first issue with the copyright notice on the verso of the title-page (lacking in late issues), Vol. VIII, Departmental Ditties Barrack Room Ballads and Other Verses [A48]. (Stewart characterizes Vol. IV, The Story of the Gadsbys and Under the Deodars, as the First American Combined Edition [Stewart 50], and the Lovell, Coryell edition of 1892 in the same binding from the same plates is described in Livingston 48.)"  [vi] + 270pp; heavy stock.

Provenance: Formerly owned by prominent Boston attorney Irving U. Townsend.

Condition: covers fairly clean; corners bumped, spine ends rubbed; endpapers present, damp stained; inner hinges good; binding tight; owner’s plate to inside cover, no inscriptions or other ink or pencil markings; text pages intact and clean, without foxing or minimal toning. Overall a very good copy of this antique classic.

Return Policy: Return policy: If not as described or pictured, the purchaser may return the item in like condition within 14 days for a full refund of the purchase price of the book price payable on safe return of the item, the responsibility of return delivery to be with the purchaser.

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