Untold lives blog

On what would have been Rudyard Kipling’s 150th birthday #OnThisDay, I’m writing about one of his most famous stories and an old favorite of mine, The Cat that Walks by Himself, from the Just So Stories first published in 1902.

The British Library owns the manuscript printer's copy in Kipling’s hand and the printer’s proof corrected by him of the Just So Stories and it is through these that I will explore the spaces between script and print, writing and correcting, and private and public. 

Autograph manuscript printer’s copy of the Cat the Walked by Himself in the Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling, 1902, Add MS 59840 f. 120.

The manuscript for The Cat that Walks by Himself shows how Kipling developed the scene of the woman creating fire and magic. That Kipling was changing the order and emphasis of the words shows that even in what was a late draft, he continued to make amendments. 

Kipling develops a scene of untamed animals in a wet, damp, green and wild forest which he contrasts with the clean, domestic interior of the cave made warm by the woman casting magic and creating fire.

“She picked out a nice dry cave . . . and she lit a nice fire of wood at the back of the cave . . . and she said, ‘Wipe your feet dear . . . and now we’ll keep house.”

“That night Best Beloved, they ate wild sheep roasted on the hot stones . . . the Woman sat up, combing her hair . . . and she threw some wood on the fire and she made a Magic. She made the First Singing Magic in the world. "

“Out in the wet wild world all the wild animals gathered together where they could see the light of the fire a long way off.”

Such contrast reminds me of the delightful poem Romance by Robert Louis Stevenson, a writer who influenced Kipling’s work. In this poem, first published in 1885, Stevenson similarly places a scene of a domestic and well-kept interior in proximity to nature, forests and rivers.

Views of swept floors, warm fires and orderly interiors in Stevenson's poem call to mind Kipling’s description of the cave together with the similar juxtapositions of male and female, domestic and natural, and interior and exterior. 

Kipling designed the illustrations for Just So Stories which are included in the printer’s manuscript copy. Here, in the original illustration for the Cat that Walks by Himself it is possible to see Kipling working at speed as the ink is often unevenly applied.

Illustration for The Cat that Walks by Himself in the autograph printer’s copy of the Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling, pen and black ink, 1902, Add MS 59840 f. 118.

Detail from the illustration for The Cat that Walks by Himself in the autograph printer’s copy of the Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling, pen and black ink, 1902, Add MS 59840 f. 118.

The British Library also owns the first and second printer’s proofs for the Just So Stories. These proofs would have been one of the first times Kipling saw the stories and illustrations in printed form.

First and Second printer’s proofs for the Just So Stories, corrected by Rudyard Kipling, showing pages from The Cat that Walked by Himself, Add MS 55863.

One of the things I love about this printed proof is that it shows the writing process at a different stage from manuscript and published volume. Kipling is correcting the printed proof in pen and ink and instructing the printer to make amendments before publication. It is exciting to see the moment when an idea, sketch or sentence is solidified into the story we know today. This was the first time the illustrations would have appeared next to their descriptions, making both word and image function together. In the illustration below it is possible to see how the description supports and makes clear Kipling’s image of the cat and the view of the cave below.

First and Second printer’s proofs for the Just So Stories, corrected by Rudyard Kipling, showing the illustration and description for The Cat that Walked by Himself, Add MS 55863.

It is illuminating to see that Kipling’s well-known stories existed in different formats and that the manuscript and proof were just parts of a wider process, both temporal and physical, which encompassed writing, drawing, printing, correcting, publishing and ultimately dissemination across an empire.

Just So Stories, Rudyard Kipling, London, 1902, 12844.a.12.

Alexandra Ault

Curator, Modern Manuscripts and Archives 1601-1850, The British Library

Twitter @AlexandraAult @UntoldLives

#OnThisDay #RudyardKipling #JustSoStories #Cats