# Is "The Jungle Book" by Rudyard Kipling a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling (Macmillan and Co., 1894) is identified by: First edition in original blue cloth, pictorially decorated and lettered in gilt with an elephant-and-rider design and gilt top edge. The London Macmillan 1894 edition and the New York Century Co.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First edition in original blue cloth, pictorially decorated and lettered in gilt with an elephant-and-rider design and gilt top edge
- Illustrations by J. L. Kipling, W. H. Drake, and P. Frenzeny
- Dated 1894 on the title page
- Macmillan and Co., London
- Publisher imprint reads Macmillan and Co.
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Rudyard Kipling |
| Publisher | Macmillan and Co. |
| Year | 1894 |
| True first | British edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First edition in original blue cloth, pictorially decorated and lettered in gilt with an elephant-and-rider design and gilt top edge |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
First edition in original blue cloth, pictorially decorated and lettered in gilt with an elephant-and-rider design and gilt top edge. Illustrations by J. L. Kipling, W. H. Drake, and P. Frenzeny. Dated 1894 on the title page. Macmillan and Co., London.

## Is this the true first?
The London Macmillan 1894 edition and the New York Century Co. 1894 edition were issued very close together (reported as the same day), so precedence between them is not clean; the British Macmillan issue is conventionally treated as the first. The two are easily distinguished: Macmillan in blue pictorial cloth, Century in olive-green cross-hatched cloth with a dust jacket.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Later Macmillan printings within 1894-95 (so-called later impressions) differ from the first; distinguish the first impression from subsequent printings, and from the Century Co. American issue.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Jungle Book* by Rudyard Kipling a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-jungle-book
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.