Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Kipling, Rudyard. A Song of the English. Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1909.
Price: US$617.59 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Hardback, original vellum with gilt title and colour illustration to spine and front board. 32cm x 25.5cm. Unpaginated. With 30 tipped in colour plates with tissue guards and numerous b&w illustrations within the text by W. Heath Robinson. No. 129 of a limited edition of only 500 copies, signed by W. Heath Robinson. Also a full-page pen and ink illustration captioned 'St. George, 1911. W.H R.' on blank page facing contents leaf. Binding typically slightly bowed/soiled and lacking ties. A heavy book, additional postage may be required for orders outside the UK.
Seller: Besleys Books PBFA, Diss, United Kingdom
Price: US$1000.00 + shipping
Description: Quarto, unpaginated. In Very Good condition. Bound in white vellum with gilt lettering and gilt, green, and red vignettes on front board and spine. Thirty tipped-in color plates with green decorative border and printed tissue-guards, including frontispiece. Ties missing. Top edge gilt; fore edge and lower edge uncut. This edition is limited to five hundred copies, signed by the artist and numbered, of which this is number 75. Foxing throughout, not impacting color plates. Bookplate belonging to Jacobi R. W. Robinson on inside front board. Boards curving, as is typical of vellum. DC Consignment. Shelved in Case 14. 1262601. Shelved Dupont Bookstore.
Seller: Second Story Books, ABAA, Rockville, MD, U.S.A.
Kipling, Rudyard. A Song of the English. Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1909.
Price: US$1050.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1909 First English separate edition. First autograph edition. Number 167 of edition of 500. Signed and numbered by the artist W. Heath Robinson on the verso of an additional leaf placed before the fore-title, bound in white vellum, lettered in gold and illustrated on the front in dark green and gold. Boards are somewhat strung, original case is missing. Printed on heavy untrimmed cream stock, thirty tipped-in color illustrations, with paper, not tissue guards, plus B&W drawings on every page. "The Song of the English" was first published in the English Illustrated Magazine, May 1893. It was then presented as a collection by The Seven Seas. This edition, published by Hodder & Stoughton was produced for the Christmas season in 1909. The poetry collection, which includes six subsidiary poems with illustrations in colour and black and white by W Heath Robinson. These are some of Kipling's earliest verses setting out his version of the British Empire and the duties that it imposes on the English people. His definition of 'the English' is wide, embracing all of the Anglo-Saxon dominions, and probably the United States. The theme underlying this collection is that the English are the Chosen under the Lord as long as they obey the Higher Law, a theme he again returned to in "Recessional, "1897 and "White Man's Burden" 1898. The illustrator, William Heath Robinson, (1872 -1944) was born and educated in London. His early career involved illustrating books - among others: Hans Christian Andersen's Danish Fairy Tales and Legends (1897); The Arabian Nights, (1899); Tales From Shakespeare (1902), and Twelfth Night (1908), Andersen's Fairy Tales (1913), A Midsummer Night's Dream (1914), Charles Kingsley's The Water-Babies (1915), and Walter de la Mare's Peacock Pie (1916). In the course of his work Heath Robinson also wrote and illustrated three children's books, The Adventures of Uncle Lubin (1902), Bill the Minder (1912) and Peter Quip in Search of a Friend (1922). Uncle Lubin is regarded as the start of Heath Robinson's career in the depiction of unlikely machines. During the First World War he drew large numbers of cartoons, depicting ever-more-unlikely secret weapons being used by the combatants. In England his name became a byword for unlikely contraptions very like Rube Goldberg's name became in the US. By Heath Robinson, Illustrator. Edition of 500. Hardcover. Very Good/No Jacket as Published. Illus. by W. Heath Robinson. Thick Crown Quarto.
Seller: Catron Grant Books, Rio Rancho, NM, U.S.A.
Kipling, Rudyard. A SONG OF THE ENGLISH. Hodder & Stoughton, 1909.
Price: US$1219.23 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: 1st 1909. Very good condition with no wrapper. Deluxe, limited to 500 copies. Large format (32 x 26cm). White vellum binding with gilt titles and vignettes. 30 lovely tipped-in colour plates mounted on cream card with green decorative borders and captioned paper guards. Top edge gilt, others untrimmed. SIGNED by the artist, this is copy no. 304. Spine and corners are slightly bumped and slightly grubby. Ties missing. Name plate to front pastedown. There is slight bookworm or silverfish damage to the front endpaper and some slight foxing to contents but generally a very nice copy. Packaged with care and promptly dispatched!
Seller: Stella & Rose's Books, PBFA, Tintern, MON, United Kingdom
Price: US$1850.00 + shipping
Description: One of 500 Copies, Signed by W. Heath Robinson [ROBINSON, W. Heath, illustrator]. KIPLING, Rudyard. A Song of the English. Illustrated by W. Heath Robinson. London: Hodder & Stoughton, [n.d., 1909]. Edition DeLuxe. Limited to 500 copies (this copy being No. 311), numbered and signed by the artist. Large quarto (12 3/16 x 9 7/8 inches; 308 x 252 mm.). [65] leaves. Thirty color plates (including frontispiece), mounted on leaves with color border decorations. Descriptive tissue guards, each with a miniature line illustration. Pictorial title and fifty-nine black and white line illustrations in the text (half-page or smaller). Title printed in red and black. Original vellum over boards with front cover pictorially stamped in dark green, red, and gilt and lettered in gilt and spine pictorially stamped in dark green, red, and gilt and lettered in gilt and green. Later brown silk ties. Top edge gilt, others uncut. A fine copy. "The next important task I undertook, was the illustration of an edition of Rudyard Kipling's A Song of the English to be published by Hodder & Stoughton in the year 1908. It became necessary for me to meet the author and discuss the proposed book with him. For this purpose, I travelled down to Burwash where he lived at that time. This was an excursion I shall always remember. I was met at Heathfield and journeyed thence in a motor-car. There were few cars on the road in those days and this in itself was a joyful experience as we drove through the pleasant Sussex lanes. Bateman's, the house at Burwash, where Rudyard Kipling lived, was a fine old building with stone mullioned windows. It was in the midst of wind-blown Sussex country. There was a faint smell of the sea in the air wafted across the few miles of country from the shore where the Coastwise lights of England watch the ships of England go. It was a fitting setting in which to find the author of A Song of the English. He met and entertained me with a quiet affability, which speedily removed the shyness I felt at first in his presence. Before long I was quite at home with him. His own knowledge of illustration gave him an appreciation of the artist's point of view. While making suggestions, he realized that the illustrator must have as free a hand as possible. His sympathetic understanding of my part in the undertaking made me feel that I was consulting with a brother artist. I spent a happy and for me a helpful day. It was a great inspiration for the work I had in hand to be in such close association with the author's interesting personality. I am always glad to remember that he was satisfied with my illustrations to his book." (W. Heath Robinson, My Line of Life. pp.126-127) "This poem originally appeared in The English Illustrated Magazine, May, 1893, prior to its inclusion in The Seven Seas, 1896" (Martindell). Beare 61b. Lewis, p. 215. Livingston 321. Martindell 133 (giving the date of publication as 1913). Stewart 151.
Seller: David Brass Rare Books, Inc., Calabasas, CA, U.S.A.
ROBINSON, William Heath; KIPLING, Rudyard. A SONG OF THE ENGLISH. Hodder & Stoughton, 1909.
Price: US$1929.97 + shipping
Description: First edition. Large 4to. Edition de Luxe, number 187 of 500 copies, numbered and signed by the illustrator, William Heath Robinson. Full white vellum with striking decoration in red and gold to upper cover and spine. Top edge gilt and others untrimmed, silk ties present A very good copy indeed. Thirty mounted colour plates under captioned tissue guards, all from wonderfully evocative watercolours and fifty black and white drawings to accompany the poetry. Poems include: A Song of the English; The Coastwise Lights; The Song of the Dead, The Deep-Sea Cables; The Song of the Sons; The Song of the Cities and England's Answer. Beautiful illustrations include views of cities from the then British Empire, such as, Bombay, Hong-Kong, Calcutta and Sydney.
Seller: Jonkers Rare Books, Henley on Thames, OXON, United Kingdom
Kipling, Rudyard. A SONG OF THE ENGLISH. Hodder & Stoughton, 1909.
Price: US$3180.59 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: 1909. Very good condition with no wrapper. Autograph Edition De Luxe, Limited to 50 copies. Large format (32 x 26cm). Bound in attractive brown leather with gilt titles, vignettes and borders. 30 lovely tipped-in colour plates mounted on cream card with green decorative borders and captioned paper guards. Top edge gilt, others untrimmed. This is copy no. 22, SIGNED by the author. Corners are slightly worn and covers a little edge rubbed. Spine has been professionally rebacked retaining the original spine piece (which is worn). A few light fingermarks and tiny foxspots else contents clean. A very nice copy of a handsome and very scarce book. Packaged with care and promptly dispatched!
Seller: Stella & Rose's Books, PBFA, Tintern, MON, United Kingdom