Kipling’s The Jungle Book Proofs and Wilkie Collins’ Travelling Desk Acquired by Cambridge University Library
A typed insert from The Jungle Book proofs with Kipling’s late corrections
Page proofs of Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book and Wilkie Collins' travelling desk are among a remarkable donation of literary texts and artifacts heading to Cambridge University Library as part of the UK Government’s Acceptance in Lieu scheme.
In addition to numerous volumes of Kipling proofs - including other works such as Puck of Pook's Hill and Rewards and Fairies - are some of his handwritten poems, and original manuscripts by popular Victorian novelists Sir Walter Besant (co-founder of the Society of Authors) and Sir Henry Rider Haggard including Besant's Katharine Regina and Haggard’s Mr Meeson’s Will.
“The Jungle Book is a family classic that has spawned countless other works," said Sir Chris Bryant, Arts Minister. "Through the Acceptance in Lieu scheme, Cambridge University Library will have the opportunity to showcase and contextualise these works so that members of the public can be educated, inspired and entertained by them for years to come.” The scheme transfers important cultural, scientific or historic objects and archives to the nation in payment for inheritance tax.
The items come from the estate of the late Mrs Rosemary Watt and form part of the collection of literary agent titan A.P. Watt (1893-1914).
“The treasures found in the A.P. Watt collection are an exceptional accumulation of manuscripts and proofs of commercial prose from an era widely regarded as the heyday of the popular novel in this country," said John Wells, Senior Archivist. “The inclusion of the annotated proof of Kipling’s 1910 Rewards and Fairies is of special interest to the library, since in 1926 we received a donation from Kipling of the autograph manuscript of this book. The manuscript includes Kipling’s instructions to the printers, so we assume it to be the copy supplied to the printers for setting the proofs. The proofs in the Watt collection bear Kipling’s manuscript corrections, and together, the two items represent the interchange of texts between author and printers that resulted in the published volume."
As part of the scheme Pembroke College, Cambridge, will receive the mid-19th century travelling writing desk, and its contents, which belonged to Wilkie Collins, author of The Woman in White. It is identical to the one used by his friend and mentor Charles Dickens. Collins used it duing his trip to the US in 1873 and it contains his last diary, including entries in the hand of his amanuensis Harriet Bartley recording his death. Alongside it are letters from Bartley to AP Watt recording the sale of the desk to him.
“Collins’ desk transports us back to the place and moment of writing," commented Dr Mark Wormald, English Fellow at Pembroke, "reminds us that it moved with the writer, and hints at the daily rhythms of a novelist’s life and work as well as his impact on those closest to him. Given Collins’s foundational contribution to detective fiction and the sensation novel, it’s tempting to think of his desk as the scene of the crime. Its effect on the scholars, students and readers lucky enough to encounter it is immediate and inspiring.”
Other highlights of the Watt collection are manuscripts of works by Bret Harte, George MacDonald, and Alfred Edward Woodley Mason.
