Tales of the Punjab Told by the People. With Illustrations by J Lockwood Kipling and Notes by R C Temple

Flora Annie Steel, Tales of the Punjab Told by the People. With Illustrations by J Lockwood Kipling and Notes by R C Temple, London: Macmillan and Co., 1894

xvi + 395 pages, frontispiece, 4 plates, vignettes throughout; original dark green cloth binding with design of a peacock and jackal under a flowering tree on the frontboard, and a monkey, cobra & crocodile on spine reproducing one of Kipling’s illustrations, dark green endpapers, all edges gilt, with pictorial decorations in gilt.
7.5 x 5.25 x 0.75 in (19 x 13.5 x 2 cm)

First edition of this rare book; Wide-Awake Stories, a prior collection of short stories, first appeared in 1884. 43 Punjabi stories were gathered and told by the English author Flora Annie Steele (1847-1929), and this collection is noteworthy for being one of the oldest in English. Steele lived in India for 22 years, mostly in the Punjab. She rejected the sedentary "mehmsahib" role and rose to prominence as an educator and outspoken opponent of the colonial authorities. Along with Rudyard Kipling's father, John Lockwood Kipling, she had a keen interest in the local dialect and folklore and sought to promote Indian arts and crafts. John Lockwood Kipling created the lovely pictures, and R C Temple's comments offer insightful historical and cultural context. The stunning binding is a picture by Rudyard Kipling and features a peacock and a jackal beneath a blossoming tree.

The book is one of the most uncommon in the Cranford Series, which consists of twenty-four illustrated books published by Macmillan and Co. over the course of 32 years, from 1876 to 1907. All of them are crown 8vo, have edges that have been cut and gilt, are bound in lustrous, smooth cloth that has a consistent dark green colour, and have extensively stamped gold designs on the covers and spines.

It was not until seventeen years and the issue of a fifth volume that it was even recognized as a series, and then it took its name, not from its originator, Caldecott, nor from its first volume, Old Christmas, but from its fourth volume, Cranford by Mrs. Gaskell, 1891. In 1892 when six new volumes were issued by the name of Cranford, the name was extended to the entire group, including the three previous volumes. (See T. Balston, “The Cranford Series and Its Imitators”, pp. 186-88, The Bookman’s Journal, Vol. XII, No. 47 (New Series), August, 1925.

Along with the twenty-four Cranford volumes, there are another dozen or so 'derivatives,' or books with a similar appearance but published by different authors and publishers, such as Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner, George Allen, and F S Ells. These books are frequently mistaken for the Cranford series but are not a part of it.

The book includes the following India Fairy and Folklore tales: Sir Buzz; The Rat's Wedding; The Faithful Prince; The Bear's Bad Bargain; Prince Lionheart and his Three Friends; The Lambikin; Bopoluchi; Princess Aubergine; Valiant Vicky, the Brave Weaver; The Son of Seven Mothers; The Sparrow and the Crow; The Tiger, the Brahman, and the Jackal; The King of the Crocodiles; The Anklebone; The Close Alliance; The Two Brothers; The Jackal and the Iguana; The Death and Burial of Poor Hen-sparrow; Princess Pepperina; Peasie and Beansie; The Jackal and the Partridge; The Snake-woman and King Ali Mardan; The Wonderful Ring; The Jackal and the Pea-hen; The Grain of Corn; The Farmer and the Money-lender; The Lord of Death; The Wrestlers; The Legend of the Glacier-hearted Queen; The Barber's Clever Wife; The Jackal and the Crocodile; How Raja Rasalu was Born; How Raja Rasalu Went Out Into the World; How Raja Rasalu's Friends Forsook Him; How Raja Rasalu Killed the Giants; How Raja Rasalu Became a Jogi; How Raja Rasalu Journeyed to the City of King Sark; How Raja Rasalu Swung the Seventy Fair Maidens; How Raja Rasalu Played Chaupur with King Sarkap; The King Who was Fried; Prince Half-a-son; The Mother and Daughter Who Worshipped the Sun; The Ruby Prince.

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