# Is "Stalky & Co." by Rudyard Kipling a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Stalky & Co. by Rudyard Kipling (Macmillan and Co., 1899) is identified by: first published Stalky & Co.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Macmillan and Co. first published Stalky & Co. in October 1899, with a second printing following in November of the same year
- The first-edition binding is red cloth with a gilt medallion on the front cover showing Kipling's 'elephant head' device, designed by his father Lockwood Kipling, depicting an elephant's head bearing a lotus in its trunk together with a fylfot (swastika), then used by Kipling as a traditional Indian emblem of good fortune
- The spine is lettered in gilt and the top edge is gilt
- The volume collates to 272 pages plus 2 pages of publisher's advertisements
- Publisher imprint reads Macmillan and Co.
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Rudyard Kipling |
| Publisher | Macmillan and Co. |
| Year | 1899 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | Macmillan and Co. first published Stalky & Co. in October 1899, with a second printing following in November of the same year |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
Macmillan and Co. first published Stalky & Co. in October 1899, with a second printing following in November of the same year. The first-edition binding is red cloth with a gilt medallion on the front cover showing Kipling's 'elephant head' device, designed by his father Lockwood Kipling, depicting an elephant's head bearing a lotus in its trunk together with a fylfot (swastika), then used by Kipling as a traditional Indian emblem of good fortune. The spine is lettered in gilt and the top edge is gilt. The volume collates to 272 pages plus 2 pages of publisher's advertisements.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
The October 1899 first printing and the November 1899 second printing are distinguished by points recorded in the standard Kipling bibliographies (Livingston, Stewart); collectors should check a copy's specific state against those references rather than assume any 1899 Macmillan copy is the first printing.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Stalky & Co.* by Rudyard Kipling a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/stalky-co
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-04.