THE JUNGLE BOOKS

Kiplings bestloved work now in a gorgeous new clothbound edition designed by the awardwinning Coralie BickfordSmith. These delectable and collectable editions are bound in highquality tactile cloth with foil stamped into the design.The story of Mowgli the mancub who is brought up by wolves in the jungles of Central India is one of the greatest literary myths ever created. As he embarks on a series of thrilling escapades Mowgli encounters such unforgettable creatures as the bear Baloo the graceful black panther Bagheera and Shere Khan the tiger with the blazing eyes. Other animal stories in The Jungle Books range from the dramatic battle between good and evil in Rikkitikkitavi to the macabre comedy The Undertakers. With The Jungle Books Rudyard Kipling drew on ancient beast fables Buddhist philosophy and memories of his AngloIndian childhood to create a rich symbolic portrait of man and nature and an eternal classic of childhood.Rudyard Kipling was born in Bombay in 1865. In 1882 Kipling started work as a journalist in India and while there produced a body of work stories sketches and poems notably Plain Tales from the Hills(1888) which made him an instant literary celebrity when he returned to England in 1889. His most famous works include The Jungle Book (1894) Kim (1901) and the Just So Stories (1902). Kipling refused to accept the role of Poet Laureate and other civil honours but he was the first English writer to be awarded the Nobel Prize in 1907. He died in 1936. Jan Montefiore has taught at the University of Kent since 1978 where she is now Professor of 20th Century English Literature. She is the author of Men and Women Writers of the 1930s (1996): Arguments of Heart and Mind:Selected Essays 19772000 (2002): Feminism and Poetry (3rd edition 2004): and Rudyard Kipling (2007). Kaori Nagai is a Research Associate at the University of Kent and author of Empire of Analogies (2006). She has also introduced Kobo Abes Face of Another and Kiplings Plain Tales from the Hills for Penguin