Just So Stories for Little Children [antikvár]

INTRODUCTION Just So Stories have been famous ever since they were first published in 1902 and at least three generations of children have enjoyed these modern fables, which are as universal in their appeal as the fables of Aesop or La Fontaine. They differ in style from their classical prototypes, and it is about their style that I am concerned in this short introduction. The first edition of the book was illustrated by Kipling himself.* This need not surprise us because Kipling had grown up in the company of artists. His father, John Lockwood Kipling (1837-1911), was a sculptor and designer who, at the age of thirty-eight, became curator of the Lahore Museum, in India. Thus when Kipling returned to India after his school days in England, he found himself *An edition with coloured illustrations by another artist was published in 1913 (reprinted 1917, 1926, 1930).