Letters of Marque

by Rudyard Kipling

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

276 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Joseph Rudyard Kipling was a journalist, short-story writer, poet, and novelist.

Kipling's works of fiction include The Jungle Book (1894), Kim (1901), and many short stories, including The Man Who Would Be King (1888). His poems include Mandalay (1890), Gunga Din (1890), The Gods of the Copybook Headings (1919), The White Man's Burden (1899), and If— (1910). He is regarded as a major innovator in the art of the short story; his children's books are classics of children's literature; and one critic described his work as exhibiting "a versatile and luminous narrative gift".

Kipling was one of the most popular writers in the United Kingdom, in both prose and verse, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Henry James said: "Kipling strikes me personally as the most complete man of genius (as distinct from fine intelligence) that I have ever known." In 1907, at the age of 41, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, making him the first English-language writer to receive the prize, and its youngest recipient to date. He was also sounded out for the British Poet Laureateship and on several occasions for a knighthood, both of which he declined.

Awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1907 "in consideration of the power of observation, originality of imagination, virility of ideas and remarkable talent for narration which characterize the creations of this world-famous author."

Kipling kept writing until the early 1930s, but at a slower pace and with much less success than before. On the night of 12 January 1936, Kipling suffered a haemorrhage in his small intestine. He underwent surgery, but died less than a week later on 18 January 1936 at the age of 70 of a perforated duodenal ulcer. Kipling's death had in fact previously been incorrectly announced in a magazine, to which he wrote, "I've just read that I am dead. Don't forget to delete me from your list of subscribers."

Reviews

[Jennifer Freitag · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a month Kipling, referring to himself as “The Englishman,” journeys unfettered through Rajputana, India, chronicling his adventures as a wayfarer through a world where British imperialism and Indian culture come together, sometimes mingling, sometimes not. This is the first of Kipling’s non-fiction works that I have read, and at first I read it only for the author’s sake, having no notion if I would enjoy a tour of Indian state Rajputana at all. I was amply rewarded. Kipling’s light, engaging style picked me up and carried me along from city to city by railway and tonga-cart. The Anglo-Indian’s love for and understanding of the strange country of India makes each chapter, each letter, a gem of knowledge. Not only is Kipling’s India worth reading about, his passages are easily understood and he is careful only to skim the surface of this deep and strange country lest he lose his readers, making Letters of Marque an excellent work with which to study British India at a glance.

[Mary Hamer · Rating 5 out of 5]

i was thrilled with this book. With a trip into Rajasthan coming up, I remembered that Kipling had made a journey of investigation there back in 1888. At that time Rajasthan was not part of British India, with its careful administration but was much wilder, ruled by Indian princes. There, young twenty-two-year old Rudyard couldn't rely on any special treatment. One night he got left on the side of the road in bitter cold , when the mail tonga he was travelling in damaged a wheel. The mail carriers would have left him there till the next mail passed but he sat on the mailbags and refused to be parted from them. These reports, sent back to his newspaper in Allahabad took me into a lost world, rife with alarms and amazements. Sad to haave finished it.