Two lost Jungle Book illustrations found in home up for auction

By Dean Murray

Two long-lost original illustrations for Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book are set for auction.

The drawings had been hanging unrecognized on the walls of a London family home for decades.

The rediscovery increases the number of known surviving originals from a set of 16 to just six.

The four other surviving illustrations are now split between private collections, the Natural History Museum and the National Trust.

The first watercolor by Edward Detmold depicts Mowgli with Bagheera the panther. The second, by twin Maurice Detmold, illustrates Cold Lairs, home of the Bandar-log or ‘Monkey People’.

London auctioneers Roseberys will offer both works for sale on March 10, with estimates of $15,000–$20,000 each.

The revelation has astounded the owners of the two watercolours, who are remaining anonymous.

“These drawings were never treated as "important" works in our family – they were simply part of our home,” they explained. “Finding out that they restore a missing piece of the visual history of Kipling’s The Jungle Book has been completely unexpected.”

The watercolours were created in 1902/3 for Sixteen Illustrations of Subjects from Kipling’s ‘The Jungle Book’, a deluxe portfolio commissioned by Macmillan & Co in 1903.

Reportedly limited to 500 copies, the 1903 portfolio was published separately from the book itself, which had been first published in 1894.

The original edition collected stories that Kipling had previously published in magazines in 1893–94, and included illustrations from the author’s father, amongst other artists.

In 1908, the first standard printed edition of The Jungle Book incorporating the Detmold illustrations within the book format was published by Macmillan. This edition contained the 16 plates and a frontispiece illustrated by the Detmold twins.

Because the plates were often removed and framed individually, complete 1903 portfolios are now extremely rare. Among other institutions, a copy is held by the Library of Congress.

The two newly rediscovered works were produced by the twin artistic prodigies Edward and Charles Maurice Detmold, and were published when they were just 20. It proved to be their final joint venture, as Maurice tragically took his own life aged 25.

Lara L’vov-Basirov, Head of Old Master, British & European Pictures, said of the watercolours appearing on the market for the first time:

"If you consider how rare the printed versions of these illustrations are, because they were treated as works of art and framed, breaking up the portfolios in the process, to be able to bid for two of the six known surviving original watercolours is a vanishingly rare opportunity.

"It is difficult to convey just how big their impact was when they were first published, with the portfolio making headline reviews on both sides of the Atlantic, and the Manchester Guardian reviewer singling out both of the individual watercolours we have here for particular praise."