IF. - 1929

Doubleday, Doran and Company. New York. 1929. REPRINT SEPARATE EDITION (U. S). Originally published in 1910. Oblong 8vo. (4.4 x 6.4 inches). 8 double leaves, uncut at the top. Each double leaf has a green decorative border, the text printed in black. Half title has "IF" printed in black within an ornamental green panel, the same printed onto the front board, with the addition of the author's name and a floral decoration. Previous owners neat early presentation inscription on the front blank free endpaper, otherwise a very clean and bright copy in original light brown boards. Some staining to the boards, mainly the rear one, but overall still an attractive copy of this uncommon reprint edition of 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.