Plain Tales From the Hills
by Kipling, Rudyard
Originally written for the Lahore Civil and Military Gazette, the stories were intended for a provincial readership familiar with the pleasures and miseries of colonial life. For the subsequent English edition, Kipling revised the tales so as to recreate as vividly as possible the sights and smells of India for those at home. Yet far from being a celebration of Empire, Kipling's stories tell of 'heat and bewilderment and wasted effort and broken faith'. He writes brilliantly and hauntingly about the barriers between the races, the classes and the sexes; and about innocence, not transformed into experience but implacably crushed.
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On Jul 9, 2011, feeney said
Rudyard Kipling was 32 when his first collection of short stories, PLAIN TALES FROM THE HILLS, was published in 1888. He had first issued 28 of them in the pages of his Anglo-Indian employer, The Civil and Military Gazette of Lahore, India (1886-7). *** The 40 short stories are of high quality and soon won for the young author a readership in India, Britain and America that propelled him to the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1907. Most of the characters displayed are British (including Irish) men, women and children. The men are often young Lieutenants (Subalterns) or enlisted men just assigned to a British or Native regiment in Queen Victoria's India. Less often the men are in business or are civil servants, married or not, assigned to running a district of several hundred thousand natives or advising the rulers of Princely States. *** Romance is a major theme. Thus the tale, "The Strength of a Likeness," begins: "Next to a requited attachment, one of the most convenient things that a young man can carry about with him at the beginning of his career, is an unrequited attachment. It makes him feel important and businesslike, and blase, and cynical." A couple of pages later: 'Open and obvious devotion from any sort of man is always pleasant to any sort of woman." *** From April to October things are so hot in India's Plains that the officers and civilians send their womenfolk and children to cool Hill Stations at 6,000 feet or higher. Thus, Simla, in the Himalyan foothills, became the summer capital of British India. Kipling's newspaper sent him there to file reports. And he observed the going ons of Viceroys, Commanders in Chief, older women who delighted in wrapping subalterns around their fingers and natives interacting with their white rulers. *** PLAIN TALES FROM THE HILLS contain more than one excellent ghost story, premonitions of death, the trials of boredom, ill health (especially the threat of cholera and typhoid), career frustrations, barely understood relations with the Hindus and Muslims being ruled and miitary and spying adventures in Burma and Afghanistan. *** In my own reading experience and judgment, a dozen or more of the PLAIN TALES FROM THE HILLS deserve appearing in any anthology of the world's finest short stories. Read a few and see if you agree! -OOO-
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PLAIN TALES FROM THE HILLS
by KIPLING Rudyard
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Dulverton, GBR
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£300.00
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Calcutta: Thacker Spink & Co., 1888. 1st edn 2nd issue (catalogue dated July 1888).8vo. Original gilt and black lettered decorated dark olive cloth (recased withblack cloth and original spine neatly relaid, with new endpapers - otherwisebright VG, in protective glassine cover). Pp. xii + 283 + 31 advts (withmisplaced page number p. 192; spelling error on contents p. 98;… Read more about this item Item Price
£300.00
Plain Tales from the Hills
by Kipling, Rudyard
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- Used - Acceptable
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- 1915
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- Hardcover
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Didcot, Oxfordshire, GBR
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£14.25
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London: Macmillan & Co Ltd, 1915. No dust jacket. Hardcover. Macmillan Pocket Kipling. Red leather boards and spine. Gilt elephant head and Hindu swastika emblem on front board. Gilt decoration, lettering and Hindu swastika emblems on spine. Boards are faded and edge-worn, with several chips. Numerous scores on boards. Front board is almost completely detached from spine. Spine is cocked.… Read more about this item Item Price
£14.25
PLAIN TALES FROM THE HILLS
by Kipling, Rudyard
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- Used - Good with no dust jacket
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- 1913
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- Hardcover
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Palmyra, New York, USA
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£8.09
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Doubleday, Page & Company. Good with no dust jacket. 1913. Hardcover. E--Ex-library with usual stamps, stickers, pocket, due date slip, etc. Wear, rubbing and staining to red cloth covers. Soiled end pages and closed edges. Age toning. Mild damp staining on fore edge margins. Binding sound. Text clean of highlighting, underlining or other pen/pencil marks. Due… Read more about this item Item Price
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Plain Tales from the Hills
by KIPLING, Rudyard
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- Used - Near Fine
- Published
- 1900
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- Hardcover
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Gloucester City, New Jersey, USA
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£528.38
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London: Macmillan & Co, 1900. Hardcover. Near Fine. Second printing of the "Uniform edition". Octavo. 336, [1] ads pp. Red cloth decorated in gilt. The extremities of the binding are slightly bumped and rubbed else near fine. Signed by Rudyard Kipling on the title page crossing out his printed name. The ink signature is a little faded, as… Read more about this item Item Price
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Plain Tales from the Hills
by Kipling Rudyard
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- 1890
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Dublin, Dublin, IRL
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£12.97
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Leipzig: Leipzig: Bernhard Tauchnitz, 1890, 1890. Hard Cover. Very Good/No Jacket. 12mo - over 6¾" - 7¾" tall. copyright edition, vol 2649 in Collection of British Authors Tauchnitz Edition, actual publication date unknown (as this publisher did not change the date on reprints), in publisher's maroon cloth, decorated on spine, blind-stamped on front cover, foxing to edges, nice fresh copy..… Read more about this item Item Price
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Plain Tales from the hills
by KIPLING, Rudyard
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- First edition, second impression
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- 1888
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Wareham, Dorset, GBR
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£500.00
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Calcutta: Thacker, Spink and Co., 1888. xii, 283, [1], xxxii pp. With a half-title and a terminal publisher's advertisement catalogue. Original publisher's green cloth, stamped and lettered in black and gilt. A trifle rubbed. Internally clean and crisp. Ticket of the Exchange Stationary and Bookselling Store of Alexandria to FEP, contemporary inked ownership inscription to recto of FFEP: 'Reginald Rudyerd… Read more about this item Item Price
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Plain Tales From The Hills
by Rudyard Kipling
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- 1898
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Canby, Oregon, USA
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£44.71
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An 1898 edition of The Plain Tales From The Hills by Rudyard Kipling. The book is in good condition with some signs of wear on the edges of the cover. Deckled edge pages. Item Price
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PLAIN TALES FROM THE HILLS
by Rudyard Kipling
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- 1916
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Blue Hill, Maine, USA
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£12.19
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Garden City: Doubleday, Page and Co., 1916. Revised. Hardcover. Very Good. 6 x 8 in. Red cloth boards. Condition is VERY GOOD ; minor shelf wear, covers very clean, spine a bit sunned. Binding tight and text unmarked. PO's name on ffep. Fiction. Stax. Item Price
£12.19
Plain Tales From The Hills
by Kipling, Rudyard
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- na
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Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, USA
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£8.13
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The Regent Press. G/na. Hardcover. Rubbing & edgewear;foxing/staining & duststaining; yellowing; small corner bumps; gift inscription (dated 1916); text otherwise overall clean & sound. 492 pages Item Price
£8.13
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PLAIN TALES FROM THE HILLS; ALPHA LIBRARY
by RUDYARD KIPLING
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- Used - Good
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- 1895
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Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
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£23.17
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UNITED STATES: RAND MCNALLY & COMPANY, 1895 DARK GREEN TEXTURED COVER WITH GOLD PRINT FRONT AND SPINE, LIGHT WEAR FRONT AND SPINE EDGES. FORMER OWNERS NAME MARKED THROUGH BY BLACK MARKER IN FRONT. TIGHT AND CLEAN THROUGHOUT. NO DATE LISTED, CIRCA 1895. TERRIFIC COLLECTION OF SHORT STORIES FROM ONE OF THE BEST AUTHORS OF TIME. Plain Tales from the Hills… Read more about this item Item Price
£23.17
Plain Tales from The Hills
by Kipling, Rudyard
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- 1924
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Jim Thorpe , Pennsylvania, USA
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£32.52
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London: Macmillan & Co, 1924. Blue hard cover w/gilt deco on spine, Elephant and swastika in circle on cover, 336 pgs which includes 40 short stories. Strong binding w/top corner ding, Interior pages Clean w/previous owner name on fep. light spotting to covers.. Pocket Edition. Hard Cover. Good/No Jacket. 12mo - over 6¾" - 7¾" tall. Item Price
£32.52
Plain Tales from the Hills
by KIPLING Rudyard
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- 1896
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- Paperback
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Christchurch, Auckland, NZL
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£7.20
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London: MacMillan, 1896 First edition thus. Original printed wrappers of the Colonial Libray version, MacMillan Colonial Library No. 248 to spine, wrappers worn soiled and with chipping loss and corners missing, brick red ink on soiled buff paper, for circulation in India and the British Colonies, This book has correct contents and cover BUT the title page and prelims are… Read more about this item Item Price
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Plain Tales From The Hills
by Rudyard Kipling
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- 1910
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Clarence, New York, USA
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£40.64
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New York: The Regent Press, 1910. Scares dust jacket. Measuring approximately 7.5" x 5" with 492 numbered pages.
This book is in good plus condition. Moderate bumping to both end of spine. Minor staining to spine and both boards. Minor staining to all edges of textblock. Moderate foxing to front and rear pastedowns and endpapers. Rear hinge… Read more about this item Item Price
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Plain Tales from the Hills
by Kipling, Rudyard
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Summerville, South Carolina, USA
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£48.77
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New York: Manhattan Press. Good. N.D.. Hardcover. A good edition with general shelfwear and slight discoloration. There is aprevious owner's ink signature on the front flyleaf; This book is a collection of short stories set in the fictional hill station of Simla. The stories are about Indian men and women who live in the station and … Read more about this item Item Price
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Plain Tales from the Hills
by Rudyard Kipling
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Rochdale, Greater Manchester, GBR
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Hurst & Company. Hardback book. Fair/No jacket. Cover faded and edges chipping. Library sticker on inside front cover. Inscriptions on first page. Age tanned. Page ripped at back. For more information on our condition gradings, see Terms of Sale below. Item Price
£10.00
PLAIN TALES FROM THE HILLS
by Rudyard Kipling
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- Used - Very Good
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- Authorised Edition
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- 1899
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- Hardcover
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Blue Hill, Maine, USA
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£12.19
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New York: Doubleday and McClure Co., 1899. Authorised Edition. Hardcover. Very Good. 5 x 7 1/2 in. Green cloth boards with blindstamped RK on cover, gilt spine titles. Condition is VERY GOOD ; corners and spine ends bumped and a bit worn, covers rubbed with some minor spots. Fiction. Stax. Item Price
£12.19
Plain Tales from the Hills
by Kipling, Rudyard
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- Used - Acceptable
- Published
- 1991
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- Paperback
- ISBN
- 9780140183122
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Seattle, Washington, USA
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£5.89
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Penguin Group, 1991. Paperback. Acceptable. Readable copy. Pages may have considerable notes/highlighting. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less.Dust jacket quality is not guaranteed. Item Price
£5.89
Plain Tales From The Hills
by Kipling, Rudyard
- Condition
- Used - Very Good- with No dust jacket as issued
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- No Edition Stated
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- N.D.
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- Pictorial Hardcover
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Magalia, California, USA
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£12.15
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Henry Altemus Company. Very Good- with No dust jacket as issued. N.D.. No Edition Stated. Pictorial Hardcover. No publication date found; Little bit of rubbing to corners of covers w/couple very tiny tears, 2 words inked inside front cover, pages lightly toning, page 182 has small black smudge that does affect 1 word, sticker removal mark to… Read more about this item Item Price
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Plain Tales from the Hills
by Kipling, Rudyard
- Condition
- Used - Very Good, no d/j, red leather-bound boards good, with gilt spine titling and cover elephant design bright; pages unmarked and t
- Edition
- reprint
- Published
- 1931
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- Hardback
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Maidenhead, Berkshire, GBR
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£10.00
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London: Macmillan and Co, 1931. reprint. hardback. Very Good, no d/j, red leather-bound boards good, with gilt spine titling and cover elephant design bright; pages unmarked and tight; all edges gilt; owner's plate on front pastedown.. 18mo (170 x 100 / 6_"" x 4""). Macmillan Pocket Kipling: This was Kipling's first published volume of fiction. The stories with… Read more about this item Item Price
£10.00
Plain Tales from the Hills
by Kipling, Rudyard
- Condition
- Used - Good
- Published
- 1991
- Binding
- Paperback
- ISBN
- 9780140183122
- Quantity Available
- 1
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Seattle, Washington, USA
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£5.89
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Penguin Group, 1991. Paperback. Good. Former library book; Pages can have notes/highlighting. Spine may show signs of wear. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less.Dust jacket quality is not guaranteed. Item Price
£5.89