REWARDS AND FAIRIES Kipling, Rudyard Fiction (Early 20th Century),Verse

With Illustrations by Frank Craig. London: Macmillan and Co., 1910. 2+8 pp undated ads. Original red cloth with ganesha device in gilt. First Edition of this collection of tales and poems that form a continuation of the Puck stories begun in PUCK OF POOK'S HILL (1906). Included are four plates by Frank Craig; in later editions these were replaced with twelve illustrations by Charles Brock. REWARDS AND FAIRIES contains the first appearance in book form of the famous poem "If", which starts off If you can keep your head when all about you | Are losing theirs and blaming it on you; . (Because of this poem's position in this book, at the end of the tale "Brother Square-Toes" which includes George Washington as a character, many thought that "If" referred to him; in fact, Kipling later asserted, he had in mind L. Starr Jameson, leader of the Jameson Raid in the Transvaal in 1895.) This is a near-fine copy (light rubbing of the front cover medallion, minor foxing on pages toward each end of the book, slight fading of the red spine as usual). Richards A242; Stewart 329.