But fans of the book will notice subtle revisions Kipling made as he worked through his stories. The drawings were works in progress and never published. They show how distinctly he recalled the country in which he’d spent the first six years of his life and to which he returned, at 16, after studying in England, to spend the next six-and-a-half years as a journalist, traveller and writer. The British author wrote it in Vermont USA, years after he’d left India. The book offers a look into Kipling’s creative process. There are verses and songs that appear at the beginning and end of each story, including the Parade-Song of the Camp- Animals, Rikki-Tikki-Tavi and Road Song of the Bandar-Log.
There’s Shere Khan set against a herd of buffaloes. The sketches envision the “man-cub” Mowgli, dwarfed against the Pench forest in Madhya Pradesh, with stunning clarity. His elegant penmanship is supplemented with careful black-ink drawings, rarely seen by the public. The manuscript, covering 173 sheets and released on November 25, contains stories from both The Jungle Book (1893-94) and The Second Jungle Book (1895). Now, the Library and independent publishers, SP books, have collaborated to release the work in a limited edition of 1,000 copies. Kipling’s original manuscript, archived in the British Library since 1940s, was thus far accessible only to researchers. And Shere Khan, Mowgli’s nemesis, was the kind of tiger you wouldn’t want to spot on a safari. Baloo, a friend, was still a wild animal. Bagheera, who was caged as a cub, had even less trust for humans. Rachel Rudyard Kipling’s own mind, The Jungle Book wasn’t quite a cute Disney story.