THE CITY OF DREADFUL NIGHT and Other Places.
Allahabad: A.H. Wheeler & Co., 1891. 4 pp preliminary plus 9 pp terminal ads, undated (with prices in rupees). Original grey-green pictorial wrappers First Published Edition (technically the second Indian edition), following the suppressed 1890 edition, which had considerably different contents and of which only six copies are known. This 1891-dated Allahabad edition (printed there) came next, followed by the (undated-but-1891) edition with joint Allahabad / London imprint -- the much-more-common first English edition, printed in the UK. DREADFUL NIGHT was issued as No. XIV in the "Indian Railway Library" -- though Wheeler published this, THE SMITH ADMINISTRATION and LETTERS OF MARQUE without authority, after Kipling had left India for England.
In this copy, the leaves are uncut (i.e., they are not trimmed flush) -- as pointed out in a discreet penciled note by the 1929 owner of this copy; the leaves average just over 22cm in height, compared to just under 20cm for a trimmed copy. This volume is extremely fragile (more delicate than the authorized titles); condition is very good, with some wear at the spine and a bit at the wrapper edges. Livingston says of this edition, "although it is very scarce, copies can be found." Richards A52 (mistakenly showing this edition as undated); Stewart 93; Martindell 42; Livingston 70. Housed in a morocco-backed slipcase with inner chemise. Item #15909
Price: $675.00