# Is "The Light That Failed" by Rudyard Kipling a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Light That Failed by Rudyard Kipling (United States Book Co., successor to John W. Lovell Co., 1890) is identified by: The earliest commercially available book printing was issued by the United States Book Company (successor to John W. An even rarer six-copy copyright pamphlet, arranged in London by Wolcott Balestier as Lovell's agent and deposited at the British Museum on 7 November 1890, technically preceded the Lovell/U.S.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- The earliest commercially available book printing was issued by the United States Book Company (successor to John W. Lovell Co.), New York, in the pictorial wrappers of its Westminster Series; a copy was deposited for copyright at the Library of Congress on 12 November 1890, and the wrapper is cover-dated 5 December 1890, appearing shortly before Lippincott's Monthly Magazine carried the same text in its January 1891 number
- It prints the shorter, twelve-chapter version ending in the lovers' engagement, omitting what became chapters VIII, XIV, and XV of the text Kipling had originally written
- A complete copy includes a publisher's insert, 'Good News to Literary Workers,' advocating for the pending international copyright bill
- Macmillan's first English edition followed in March 1891 with a prefatory note stating the text was 'as it was originally conceived by the Writer,' restoring the full fifteen chapters, including the tragic ending in the newly added chapters XIV-XV that had been cut from the Lippincott/Lovell text
- Publisher imprint reads United States Book Co., successor to John W. Lovell Co.
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Rudyard Kipling |
| Publisher | United States Book Co., successor to John W. Lovell Co. |
| Year | 1890 |
| True first | British edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | The earliest commercially available book printing was issued by the United States Book Company (successor to John W. Lovell Co.), New York… |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
The earliest commercially available book printing was issued by the United States Book Company (successor to John W. Lovell Co.), New York, in the pictorial wrappers of its Westminster Series; a copy was deposited for copyright at the Library of Congress on 12 November 1890, and the wrapper is cover-dated 5 December 1890, appearing shortly before Lippincott's Monthly Magazine carried the same text in its January 1891 number. It prints the shorter, twelve-chapter version ending in the lovers' engagement, omitting what became chapters VIII, XIV, and XV of the text Kipling had originally written. A complete copy includes a publisher's insert, 'Good News to Literary Workers,' advocating for the pending international copyright bill. Macmillan's first English edition followed in March 1891 with a prefatory note stating the text was 'as it was originally conceived by the Writer,' restoring the full fifteen chapters, including the tragic ending in the newly added chapters XIV-XV that had been cut from the Lippincott/Lovell text.

## Is this the true first?
An even rarer six-copy copyright pamphlet, arranged in London by Wolcott Balestier as Lovell's agent and deposited at the British Museum on 7 November 1890, technically preceded the Lovell/U.S. Book Co. New York printing by about a week but was never placed on public sale, so bibliographers treat it as a copyright formality rather than a true published edition. Kipling bibliographers and collectors generally treat the Macmillan London edition of March 1891, which restored Kipling's intended fifteen-chapter tragic text, as the definitive first edition of the novel Kipling meant to publish.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Light That Failed* by Rudyard Kipling a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-light-that-failed
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.