THE FRINGES OF THE FLEET [complete in six volumes].

Kipling, Rudyard

I & II. The Auxiliary Fleet. / III & IV. Submarines. / V & VI. Patrols. [Together, six volumes.] Garden City NY: Doubleday, Page & Company, 1915. Original light yellow wrappers lettered in green.

First Editions, being the American copyright issues, limited (according to DP&Co's annotated copy) to 75 copies each. These six articles, written at the instance of the Ministry of Information, were issued separately from November 19th through December 1st, 1915. The English and American book editions were then published sometime in December; a year later, they were collected in Kipling's book SEA WARFARE (December 1916). Each of the six volumes leads off with an original poem written by Kipling for the occasion. The Vol VI poem reads "(Twelve verses omitted.)" between the third verse and the last verse: this "was only a little joke of Kipling's to indicate that it would, of course, take a very lengthy poem to give any idea of the dangers and tribulations incurred by the [North Sea] patrol" [Richards].

The first volume has just a hint of cover soil, but otherwise all six are fine and un-worn, other than the usual minor rusting of the staples. Richards A282; Stewart 394. Item #14945

Price: $575.00