Rudyard Kipling - The Day’s Work - 1906

Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936) was an English writer, poet, and journalist born in Bombay, then part of British India. His early life in India, followed by schooling in England and a return to India as a young journalist, profoundly shaped his imagination and themes. Kipling’s work is closely associated with the British Empire, but it is also marked by technical precision, narrative energy, and a strong interest in professional competence, discipline, and responsibility. He wrote across many forms—poetry, short stories, novels, and children’s literature—and became one of the most widely read authors of his time. In 1907 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, the youngest recipient to date, recognized for his storytelling power and originality. While later criticism has often focused on the political implications of his imperial outlook, Kipling remains central to discussions of modern narrative craft and the short story in English.

The Day’s Work, first published in 1898, is a collection of short stories that reflects Kipling’s fascination with work, skill, and duty in both industrial and imperial settings. Many of the stories focus on professionals—engineers, shipbuilders, soldiers, doctors, and administrators—whose competence and ethical commitment are tested under pressure. Set largely in Britain and the wider empire, the book explores modern technology, such as naval engineering and railways, alongside older codes of honor and service. Stories like “The Ship that Found Herself” and “The Bridge-Builders” dramatize the idea that machines, like people, demand respect, discipline, and understanding, while others, such as “The Maltese Cat” or “William the Conqueror,” blend humor with moral reflection. Throughout the collection, Kipling examines the dignity of labor, the limits of authority, and the quiet heroism of doing one’s job well, suggesting that meaning is often found not in grand ideals but in the steady fulfillment of responsibility.

The first illustrated edition of The Day's Work is the American one. It was published by Doubleday, McClure & Co., and issued with illustrations, including a frontispiece (with a tissue guard) and several internal black-and-white plates by artists such as W. L. Sonntag, E. L. Blumenschein, and W. D. Stevens. These illustrations were not just decorative endpapers — they were inserted plates accompanying the stories themselves.
This illustrated American edition preceded the English edition (that did not include internal plates) by a couple of months and is a notable collectible version precisely because of these plates.

[viii], 431 pages, 1st edition, 2nd printing, 8 unnumbered leaves of plates: frontispiece and illustrations; 21 cm. 8vo
Dark green clothbound hardcover. Gilt title and author's name on spine and on front board. Illustration (a ship) on front board. Binding is tight. Pages clear and bright. Underlines and notes: possibly on pronunciation, corrections and translations (see pictures). No foxing. 8 plates. Overall very good.

PS: I'll ship the book carefully packaged in bubble wrap, via An Post, the Irish Postal Service ("Registered Post, Tracking & Insurance included to protect your valuable items"). I will provide the tracking number once dispatched.