By Medha Godbole Singh
The recent news coming from Cambridge University Library is sure to bring smiles to the faces of aspiring novelists and avid readers. Page proofs of Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book have been allocated to Cambridge University Library. No one has been left unaffected by this charming and timeless piece of literature which was later made into a Disney animated film in 1967 and a live action film in 2016. These page and press proofs have been given as a part of HM Government’s Acceptance in Lieu scheme and are part of a collection from the estate of the late Rosemary Watt. Its contents are linked with one of the most renowned literary agents of the Victorian era, AP Watt, as well as his son, AS Watt.
The proofs will be a fantastic addition to the library’s collection, along with the manuscript of the poem ‘If,’ donated by Kipling himself in the 1920s. The collection includes the author’s handwritten poems along with multiple volumes of proofs. They include Rewards and Fairies and Puck of Pook’s Hill.
As for the Jungle Book proofs, they include typed inserts showing Kipling’s corrections and changes, hand-drawn illustration and poetry proof copy among many other things. Those with access to the library will also be able to see the spine and title pages of the proof copy.
This allocation will be nothing short of treasure for students and will open new vistas for academics, writers and readers. According to Sir Chris Bryant, Arts Minister, these proofs will provide more than the “bare necessities” for academics, aspiring novelists and bookworms.
The collection also has an annotated proof of Kipling’s Rewards and Fairies (1910) which hints at written communication between the author and the printers which led to final publishing of the volume. And, as if Kipling’s proofs were not precious enough, the manuscripts from the Watt collection comprise works by Bret Harte, George MacDonald (who inspired J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis) and works of other eminent writers between 1870 and 1920.
This development has given the study of literary history on the whole a huge boost and will hopefully encourage others to support literature in the UK like Watt’s grandson has.
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