I need a Book Expert !

[mojjax]

Thi Rudyard Kipling book has me baffled . the table of contents says there are 338 pages , yet the book has less than 50 pages . Many of the pages are numbered out of sequence . Many of the pages end in the middle of a sentence .

 

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[mojjax]

It has his signature written on the tissue that covers his portrait - not sure if it's real or a facsimile . Inside the front cover there is the end spine of THE JUNGLE BOOK glued to it - inside the back cover there are 3 more end spines of other books of his .

 

[Old Bookaroo]

It appears the book was poorly printed. Perhaps the sons of Chuck Scribner were having a bad day. If the signature is on the tissue guarding the author's portrait you can be fairly sure it's printed there. An author generally signs the title page - the issue would probably rip if you put a fountain pen to it.

A previous owner took the spine from other books in the set and glued them into this one. Why? That's a good question that I can't answer. It certainly wouldn't add any value to that copy.

Unlike coins and stamps, book errors are generally not collectible (although there is a famous edition of the Bible where they left "not" out of the Seventh Commandment; For some reason that's kind of popular).

A dealer would probably carefully cut the thread binding the page signatures together and sell off the author's portrait and any other illustrations in it.

Sorry - it appears to be a series of serious errors by the printer and for some reason that copy is still around.

Good luck to all,

The Old Bookaroo

 

[mojjax]

Could it be a Scribner's book advertising other books by Kipling and the unfinished paragraphs are ''Teasers" to get you to go buy the full books ?

 

[Keith Jackson]

I was thinking that it was either an advertising copy or a printer's proof.

 

[mojjax]

I think I figured it out . It's a Salesman's Dummy book .

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct...mlu6_KJ80sTHwEcZXBdTg94g&ust=1483209356414650

 

[nhbenz]

Thanks Mojjax, good to know -- I don't think I'd seen one before.

 

[Keith Jackson]

My father had a book kind of like that a number of years ago and unfortunately it has disappeared over the years. It was from either the late 1860s or the early 1870s and was a book about the Book of Revelation. It had about the first half of the book as well as a dedication page to those who had died during the recently ended Civil War. It also contained purchasing information as well as a number of pages of lined paper. The last part of the book actually had a few pages into which you could slide small pictures. It had a few pictures in it. I really wish that I still had that book.

 

[Keith Jackson]

I think I figured it out . It's a Salesman's Dummy book .

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct...mlu6_KJ80sTHwEcZXBdTg94g&ust=1483209356414650

Here is another link for more information:

Book Salesman's Samples | American Antiquarian Society

 

[Bruce R]

Sounds like a ripoff !

 

[mojjax]

Anyway...... It sold for $45.00 RUDYARD KIPLING - SALESMAN SAMPLE - DUMMY BOOK - 1899 | eBay