Rudyard Kipling // The Light That Failed

Kipling: The Light That Failed

London, Macmillan and Co, 1891. First Edition.

1 volume, in-12, bound, 339 pages.

Vermilion half-morocco binding with corners, signed by ZAEHNDORF. Spine labels lettered in gilt. Preserved cover and spine. Two bookplates.

In excellent condition.

The Light That Failed is the first novel by the Nobel Prize-winning English author Rudyard Kipling, first published in Lippincott's Monthly Magazine in January 1891. Most of the novel is set in London, but many important events throughout the story occur in Sudan and Port Said. It follows the life of Dick Heldar, an artist and painter who goes blind, and his unrequited love for his childhood playmate, Maisie.

Kipling wrote the novel when he was 26 years old, and it is semi-autobiographical, being based upon his own unrequited love for Florence Garrard.