Sale 2461 - Autographs, November 7, 2017

248 c   KIPLING, RUDYARD. Two Autograph Manuscripts Signed, each a fair copy of one of his poems:“The Destroyers” * “To Capt. Robley Evans.”The first, signed twice, 9 stanzas. After last stanza at bottom of terminal page is written a holograph 2-verse fragment from “God of Our Fathers, Known of Old” followed by additional full signature. 2 1 / 2 pages, 8vo, written on two separate sheets; staining from cello tape touching few letters of text at left edge of first page. The second, “R.K.,” three stanzas. 1 page, 8vo; staining along left edge (not affecting text), 1898 newspaper clipping pasted to verso. Np, nd [1,500/2,500] “The Destroyers” was first published in McClure’s Magazine in May of 1898, beginning: “The strength of twice three thousand horse / That seeks the single goal; / The line that holds the rending course, / The hate that swings the whole.” “To Capt. Robley Evans” was first published in the New York Tribune , January 10, 1899, and it begins by mentioning the American illustrator Rufus Zogbaum (1849-1925): “Zogbaum draws with a pencil, / And I do things with a pen; / And you sit up in a conning tower / Bossing eight hundred men.” This 1899 version lacks the fourth stanza, added later. 248 246