The Jungle Book (Illustrated): The 1894 Classic Edition with Original Illustrations

by Rudyard Kipling, Catherine Miles (introduction), M. Detmold (illustrator)

Step into the wildest adventure with J. R. Kipling’s The Jungle Book, illustrated by M. & E. Detmold. Follow Mowgli, a boy raised by wolves, as he discovers the art of survival and harmony among animals.When Mowgli loses his parents to a vicious tiger attack in a deep forest in India, he is taken in by a pack of wolves. Adopted by the Wolf Mother Raksha and their leader Akela, young Mowgli learns to adapt to the jungle life and becomes best friends with Baloo the bear and Bagheera the panther, who know the ways of men well and will do anything to protect the boy.

But when Shere Khan, a tiger who hates humans with a passion, returns to hunt down Mowgli, Bagheera decides the boy should return to civilization. Mowgli is torn between leaving behind his beloved jungle and animal companions, but their adventures teach him valuable lessons about survival and life in the jungle.

When he reaches the nearby human village at last, Mowgli will have to make an impossible choice. Can he bid farewell to the animal friends he’s come to know as his family just to save his life?

Find out in this brand-new edition with exclusive features,

16 first-edition, high-quality illustrations by two of America's most talented illustrators, M. & E. Detmold.A fun quiz to test your knowledge about Mowgli and the main characters with facts and trivia at the end of the book.A brand-new cover design for your collection.Carefully designed typesetting for comfortable reading for young and adult readers.

The Jungle Book is a timeless tale about friendship and the importance of respecting nature. Enjoy your own copy of this ode to nature’s wonders – an enduring masterpiece that has captivated readers across generations!

Genres: Classics

156 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 7, 2023

About the author

Joseph Rudyard Kipling was a journalist, short-story writer, poet, and novelist.

Kipling's works of fiction include The Jungle Book (1894), Kim (1901), 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 regarded as a major innovator in the art of the short story; his children's books are classics of children's literature; and one critic described his work as exhibiting "a versatile and luminous narrative gift".

Kipling was one of the most popular writers in the United Kingdom, in both prose and verse, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. 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, at the age of 41, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, making him the first English-language writer to receive the prize, and its youngest recipient to date. He was also sounded out for the British Poet Laureateship and on several occasions for a knighthood, both of which he declined.

Awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1907 "in consideration of the power of observation, originality of imagination, virility of ideas and remarkable talent for narration which characterize the creations of this world-famous author."

Kipling kept writing until the early 1930s, but at a slower pace and with much less success than before. On the night of 12 January 1936, Kipling suffered a haemorrhage in his small intestine. He underwent surgery, but died less than a week later on 18 January 1936 at the age of 70 of a perforated duodenal ulcer. Kipling's death had in fact previously been incorrectly announced in a magazine, to which he wrote, "I've just read that I am dead. Don't forget to delete me from your list of subscribers."

Reviews

[Brok3n · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best preface ever

I was around ten years old the first time I read Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Books, so around 1965. They became two of my favorite books in all of literature -- I've probably read them about a dozen times since. Two days ago I set out to reread them. (I'm writing a story that makes reference to them and wanted to get the details right.) I'll write an actual review when I finish The Second Jungle Book. But I wanted to take the occasion of finishing The First Jungle Book to note that this particular edition lacks the preface, which is a shameful omission. Here it is, in full:

The demands made by a work of this nature upon the generosity of specialists are very numerous, and the Editor would be wanting in all title to the generous treatment he has received were he not willing to make the fullest possible acknowledgment of his indebtedness.

His thanks are due in the first place to the scholarly and accomplished Bahadur Shah, baggage elephant 174 on the Indian Register, who, with his amiable sister Pudmini, most courteously supplied the history of ‘Toomai of the Elephants’ and much of the information contained in ‘Her Majesty’s Servants.’ The adventures of Mowgli were collected at various times and in various places from a multitude of informants, most of whom desire to preserve the strictest anonymity. Yet, at this distance, the Editor feels at liberty to thank a Hindu gentleman of the old rock, an esteemed resident of the upper slopes of Jakko, for his convincing if somewhat caustic estimate of the national characteristics of his caste—the Presbytes. Sahi, a savant of infinite research and industry, a member of the recently disbanded Seeonee Pack, and an artist well known at most of the local fairs of Southern India, where his muzzled dance with his master attracts the youth, beauty, and culture of many villages, have contributed most valuable data on people, manners, and customs. These have been freely drawn upon, in the stories of ‘Tiger! Tiger!’, ‘Kaa’s Hunting,’ and ‘Mowgli’s Brothers.’ For the outlines of ‘Rikki-tikki-tavi’ the Editor stands indebted to one of the leading herpetologists of Upper India, a fearless and independent investigator who, resolving ‘not to live but know,’ lately sacrificed his life through over-application to the study of our Eastern Thanatophidia. A happy accident of travel enabled the Editor, when a passenger on the Empress of India, to be of some slight assistance to a fellow-passenger. How richly his poor services were repaid, readers of ‘The White Seal’ may judge for themselves.

You may find it here, and here is an explanation by Alan Underwood.

We had read "The White Seal" in school, so the last two sentences caught my attention. Here is the first paragraph of "The White Seal"

All these things happened several years ago at a place called Novastoshnah, or North East Point, on the Island of St. Paul, away and away in the Bering Sea. Limmershin, the Winter Wren, told me the tale when he was blown on to the rigging of a steamer going to Japan, and I took him down into my cabin and warmed and fed him for a couple of days till he was fit to fly back to St. Paul’s again. Limmershin is a very quaint little bird, but he knows how to tell the truth.

Thus I realized that the "fellow passenger" whom Kipling claims to have helped and from whom he heard the story was Limmershin, the winter wren. And of course I quickly realized that all the experts thanked in the Preface are animals.

Underwood says "The joke would hardly be appreciated by young children but would amuse adults."

Mr Underwood, it falls to me to inform you that, at the age of ten, I thoroughly appreciated the joke, and it has remained in my memory in the sixty years since as one of the best of all literary jokes.

Blog review.

[Andy Zach · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first read this before I was ten and I loved it. I read it before Disney's animated version came out, which disappointed me, since they didn't follow the book faithfully.

Years later, I read the unabridged edition and enjoyed the additional stories that had not been in my abridged edition. These stories dealt with death of thieves and murderers, and the destruction of an Indian village that had hurt Mowgli's mother. I was struck by the wealth of historical detail in the stories.

Forty years after that, I read the original edition on Kindle with the original art. Again by I was struck by the cultural details about India. Now as an author, I was awed by Kipling's effective use of point of view and storytelling.

Read one of the best young adult writers ever, Rudyard Kipling.

[Rigel Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Journey into the wild

Classic story of adventure, the wilderness, and a young boy living in the jungle with his animal family. This version includes detailed black and white images and a quiz to enhance learning at the end. Fun read for adults and children interested in classic literature.

[Kenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

such a classic

A wonderful classic that will never get old. I remember the first time I read the Jungle Book and it was magical and it still is. I just hope that the newer generations appreciate this treasure. Worth a read!

[Kirsty McCall · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some of the stories were really engaging but most of them felt like a chore to read. Don’t fully understand why this is so popular