BERLIN IsaïahLivre Rare Book
'Captains Courageous'
06549London: Macmillan and Co. Limited 1897. The Grand Banks - Where Boys Become Men"<br /> A Classic of the Sea<br /> <br /> KIPLING Rudyard. 'Captains Courageous' A Story of the Grand Banks. With illustrations by I. W. Taber. London: Macmillan and Co. Limited 1897.<br /> <br /> First edition. Small octavo 7 1/4 x 4 3/4 inches; 184 x 121 mm. viii 245 1 blank 2 advertisements pp. With twenty-two full-page illustrations by I. W. Taber.<br /> <br /> Publisher's blue cloth front cover and spine pictorially decorated in gilt dark gray coated endpapers all edges gilt. Minimal rubbing to extremities small bookseller's description neatly affixed to front paste-down. A touch of very light foxing otherwise a near fine copy the notoriously fragile endpapers remarkably fresh and intact.<br /> <br /> One of Kipling's most enduring and widely read novels Captains Courageous stands apart within his canon as a pure sea story drawn from his own experiences aboard fishing vessels off the Grand Banks of Newfoundland. First published in 1897 it tells the story of Harvey Cheyne a spoiled American boy transformed by hardship discipline and camaraderie after being swept overboard and rescued by a Gloucester fishing schooner.<br /> <br /> The novel's vivid depiction of life at sea - its dangers routines and moral code - owes much to Kipling's gift for observation and his admiration for working seamen. The result is a narrative at once adventurous and deeply humane often compared to the great maritime traditions of Dana and Melville but with a distinctly Kiplingesque emphasis on character and duty.<br /> <br /> Isaiah West Taber 1830-1912 is a slightly deceptive figure in this context - he was not primarily a book illustrator but one of the leading American photographers of the late 19th century based in San Francisco. That explains why the plates in Captains Courageous feel unusually "real": they are derived from photographic studies not traditional drawn illustration.<br /> <br /> The publisher's pictorial gilt cloth binding with its bold maritime design is particularly attractive and increasingly difficult to find in such well-preserved condition especially with the delicate coated endpapers intact and the gilt still bright.<br /> <br /> A handsome and increasingly scarce first edition of one of the great literary evocations of the sea. London: Macmillan and Co., Limited, 1897 unknown
David Brass Rare Books, Inc. · États-Unis850,00 $US≈ 719,19 €
