1918 1stED Binding by Sangorski with Hinduist Swastika - 20 Poems from Rudyard Kipling.
(description)
An important note about KIPLING AND THE SWASTIKA: A question frequently asked concerns the presumption that Kipling's use of the swastika meant that he allied himself to the Nazi cause. Fortunately, it is easy to show that this is a misapprehension. Kipling's own introduction to the swastika as a Hindu good luck symbol certainly came through his father's encyclopedic knowledge of Indian art. The use of such a symbol, however, can be traced back to antiquity. In Sanskrit the word means "fortunate" or "well-being" but it was used in Neolithic Europe as a potter's stamp, was incised as a mason's mark in Minoan Crete, was found in Homeric Troy, and in early Indian civilizations. Kipling knew, also, that the Hindu trader opens his annual account-book with a swastika in order to ensure an auspicious beginning. Buddhist migration carried it as far as China and Japan, and other influences to West Africa and America. Early Christian art employed it as a "fylfot", filling the foot of ecclesiastical stained-glass. Once the Nazis had usurped the swastika Kipling ordered that it should no longer adorn his books... (from Michael Smith, Kipling Society).
Author: Rudyard Kipling.
Title: Twenty Poems from Rudyard Kipling.
Publisher: London, Methuen and Co.Ltd., 1918. First edition (stated).
Language: Text in English.
Size: 7 " X 4.5 ".
Pages: 38 pages.
Binding: Attractive and fine binding finely bound in full leather by Sangosrski & Sutcliffe with Hinduist Swastika in the covers' corners (hinges fine) under a protective removable mylar cover.
Content: Very good content (bright, tight, and clean, original wrapper bound at the end of the volume - as shown, ex-libris of a previous owner on the first endpaper).
The book: Rare and attractive first edition of this book including famous poems by Kipling. Although all the poems in the volume had appeared in previous Kipling poetry collections or issues, three poems are here collected for the very first time: "The Sons of Martha", "For All We Have and Are", and "The Holy War".
The author: Joseph Rudyard Kipling (30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936) was an English journalist, short-story writer, poet, and novelist. He was born in India, which inspired much of his work.
The binder: Sangorski & Sutcliffe is a firm of bookbinders established in London in 1901. It is considered to be one of the most important bookbinding companies of the 20th century, famous for its luxurious jeweled bindings that used real gold and precious stones in their book covers.