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Maurice and Edward Detmold, Sixteen Illustrations to Rudyard Kipling’s “The Jungle Book”, London: Macmillan & Co., 1903

Bifolium text leaf with title and list of illustrations, original publisher’s green cloth portfolio, gilt-stamped with a stylised gryphon by the artists, bordered in gilt, and secured with two brown silk ties; containing the complete suite of sixteen colour photogravure plates after original watercolours by the Detmold brothers, each tipped onto grey card mounts (approx. 43 × 33 cm), printed with letterpress captions and protected by tissue guards.
22.75 x 16 in (58 x 41 cm)

LIST OF PLATES
1) Akela the Lone Wolf / 2) Council Rock / 3) Mowgli and Bagheera / 4) Mowgli Leaving the Jungle / 5) Baloo in the Forest / 6) The Cold Lairs / 7) Monkey Fight / 8) Kaa the Python / 9) The Village Club / 10) The Return of the Buffalo Herd / 11) Shere Khan in Jungle / 12) Mowgli and the Lone Wolf / 13) Rikkitikki / 14) Elephant with trappings / 15) Elephant-Dance / 16) Toomai of the Elephants

IN THE SPIRIT OF THE JUNGLE: MAURICE AND EDWARD DETMOLD’S LAVISH TRIBUTE TO KIPLING’S INDIA

This magnificent portfolio, issued by Macmillan in 1903, represents the pinnacle of early twentieth-century colour illustration and remains the most ambitious visual interpretation of Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book ever produced. Created by the prodigious twin artists Maurice and Edward Detmold, the suite of sixteen colour plates reveals a striking fusion of Edwardian naturalism and Art Nouveau symbolism, conveying the mythic and zoological character of Kipling’s tales with almost preternatural grace.

Maurice and Edward Detmold's precocious talent resulted in their exhibition of watercolours at the Royal Academy and the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours at the age of 13, where they were observed by Edward Burne-Jones. Consequently, they acquired a comprehensive understanding of a variety of techniques, including watercolours, etchings, and drawings, and they applied these skills to the art of book illustration.

The Detmolds—recognised by contemporaries such as Edward Burne-Jones and William Strang for their precocious draughtsmanship—approached the Jungle Book not as children's literature, but as a deeply animistic and spiritually resonant text. Their animals are rendered with anatomical precision yet suffused with a sense of inner life—whether the brooding majesty of Shere Khan, the sleek motion of Bagheera, or the kinetic violence of the buffalo stampede. These are not whimsical figures, but creatures imbued with intelligence and gravitas.

This portfolio was printed under the supervision of the celebrated firm of André & Sleigh Ltd., and the plates were photolithographed with exceptional fidelity to the original watercolours. Each is accompanied by a printed caption including a line from Kipling’s narrative, reinforcing the cohesion between word and image. The elaborate green cloth portfolio—decorated in gilt with a mythological winged beast—transforms the set into a presentation object of artistic and bibliophilic intent.

The publication marked a turning point in the Detmolds' career and remains the most lavish and collectible of all their works. Maurice Detmold died by suicide five years later at the age of 25, rendering this edition not only a triumph of Edwardian illustration but also a poignant testament to unrealised genius.

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