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Cover of A Diversity of Creatures

A Diversity of Creatures

Rudyard Kipling

First published 1917
Publisher Macmillan and Co.
Format Hardcover
Type Collection
Pages viii+442
Price 6/-

  • Seven stories are speculative fiction, three identified in Bleiler's "Science-Fiction: The Early Years", ("The Village That Voted the Earth Was Flat") in John Brunner Presents Kipling's Fantasy, "In the Same Boat" listed in the Clute encyclopedias and the remaining stories published in other genre collections.
  • Prefaces of the 1st ed. and US ed. differ (as does pagination). Here the later US preface is represented as a revision of the original (both viewed at HathiTrust):   PREFACE   With three [two] exceptions, the dates at the head of these stories show when they were published in magazine form. 'The Village that Voted the Earth was Flat,' 'Regulus,' and 'My Son's Wife' carry the dates when they were written.   RUDYARD KIPLING At the head of the story "Regulus", the two eds. show "(1908)" and "(1917)". That non-genre story was first published in the April 1917 issues of Nash's Pall Mall Magazine and The Metropolitan Magazine.
  • WorldCat library records report publications with page-counts that range from 366 to 460 (from informed spot check). The 2007 Wildside 672-page edition (not found at WorldCat) --if correctly reported here, following Amazon-- probably contains a much larger collection. As of 2017-11-04, Amazon UK/US provides for that edition only an incomplete "Look inside!" some 2017 "Independently published" paperback (ISBN 978-1520639970), reported as 203 pages, whose contents as listed on the back cover do match the 1917 collection.

    As of 2017-11-05 the database record of that 672-page edition lists one story "The Eye of Allah" (1926) that certainly was not in the original collection. No source indicated.

    1st ed.
  • Speculative fiction content only (see Container Title)
  • Last page unnumbered
  • Publ date and price (this among 5 eds./formats) from publisher advert The Observer 1917-04-15 p4 (Sunday); flushright "[Tuesday." interpreted as publication date.

    Following UNIFORM EDITION, and POCKET EDITION in two formats (back pages of the copy online at HDL, far below), the publisher advertisement lists also BOMBAY EDITION as 21/- and EDITION DE LUXE, 2 vols. at 10/- (or 21/- for the collection).
  • Some of the numerous WorldCat library records that report Macmillan, 1917 report a Dominions Edition; for instance OCLC 988649411, 1005117148 --both as page-count viii 441, size 20 cm.
  • LC and WorldCat library records linked here (LCCN, OCLC) report the uniform ed. (presumably, in default) and pocket ed. only --as size 21 cm and 18 cm.
  • HathiTrust Digital Library provides full view of two copies, one with original cover (from Duke U), interiors evidently identical except the first printed leaf -- front cover (not jacket) and first leaf of the Duke book fit both the image displayed here (with jacket) and the uniform edition -- Preface, p[v] (differs from US ed.; see Container Title) -- Contents, p.vii-viii, lists 14 stories and 14 poems, alternating except once -- text spans p1-[442]; p[442] footer is horizontal line over "Printed by R. & R. Clark, Limited, Edinburgh." -- back pages comprise 4-page promotion Kipling books from Macmillan and Co., numbered 1-4 "The Works of Rudyard Kipling", back pages 1-2, header p1 identifies this and also two pocket eds./formats thus (6 lines, quote):   UNIFORM EDITION.   Extra Crown 8vo. Red cloth, gilt tops. 6s. each.   POCKET EDITION.   Printed on Thin Paper. With Gilt Edges. Fcap. 8vo.   In Scarlet Limp Leather. 5s. net each.   In Blue Cloth. 4s. 6d. net each.

Year Reviewer Publication
1991 Everett F. Bleiler Science Fiction: The Early Years
kiplingsociety.co.uk

No ISBN on record — searching by title and author.

AbeBooks Amazon ThriftBooks WorldCat Open Library

Title Year Publisher Format Type Catalog ID Cover Artist Pages
A Diversity of Creatures 1917 Doubleday, Page & Company Hardcover Collection viii+443
A Diversity of Creatures Cover 1987 Penguin Books Paperback Collection 366
A Diversity of Creatures 2004 Project Gutenberg eBook Collection 13085
A Diversity of Creatures Cover 2007 Wildside Press Hardcover Collection 672