IF.
Macmillan and Co. Limited. London. 1914, 1914.
SECOND SEPARATE ENGLISH EDITION. 8vo. (6.3 x 4.5 inches). Printed stiff grey paper cover plus 4pp. All pages with spotting to some degree. One corner of the cover with a light crease and edges just a little bumped but overall a near very good example of this fragile pamphlet. ----- The Poem first appeared in the book Rewards and Fairies (October 1910), this separate publication was issued to capitalise on the huge, and instant, popularity of what has become Kipling's most enduring work of verse. A poll taken by the BBC in the UK in 2005 voted it as Britain's favourite Poem, poling twice as many votes as the number 2 choice, Lord Tennyson's The Lady of Shallot. Originally written in 1895, IF was inspired by the actions of Dr. Leander Starr Jameson, a British Officer whose forces were defeated by the Boers in 1895, but who was portrayed as a victorious hero by the British press, the poem is a powerful masterclass in maintaining the British stiff upper lip. ---- David Alan Richards. Rudyard Kipling. A bibliography. A269. Note. -- 5000 copies printed in July 1914.
Item #10769
Price: £175.00