Rediscovered Original The Jungle Book Illustrations to Auction

Two original watercolour illustrations for Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book long thought lost have been rediscovered and will be offered at Roseberys next month.

Extraordinarily rare, they increase the number of known surviving originals from a set of 16 to just six. London auctioneers Roseberys will offer both works for sale on March 10, with estimates of £15,000-£20,000 each.

The drawings, which depict scenes from The Jungle Book, had been hanging unrecognised on the walls of a London family home for decades. “These drawings were never treated as ‘important’ works in our family, they were simply part of our home,” said the anonymous owners. “Finding out that they restore a missing piece of the visual history of 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. They were produced by the twin artistic prodigies Edward Detmold (1883-1957) and Charles Maurice Detmold (1883-1908), known as Maurice, and were published when they were just 20. It proved to be their final joint venture as Maurice took his own life aged 25.

The first of the two watercolours depicts Mowgli and Bagheera and is by Edward. It shows the young protagonist alongside the black panther Bagheera. The second, The Cold Lairs, is by Maurice. It depicts the ruined city of the Bandar-log, the monkey people, combining intricate jungle foliage with animated animal forms that reflect the brothers’ close observation of the natural world.

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 Rudyard Kipling had previously published in magazines from 1893 to 1894, 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 (bound with text) 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.

Rarer still are the original watercolours produced for the project. Before this discovery, only four were known to survive, now split between private collections, the Natural History Museum, and the National Trust. One of them, The Return of the Buffalo Herd, is on display at Bateman’s in East Sussex, Kipling’s former home now run by the National Trust.

Both works were exhibited in 1903 at The Dutch Gallery, London, in An Exhibition of Water-Colour Drawings. Illustrations to Rudyard Kipling’s "Jungle Book", etc. By Maurice and Edward Detmold. Their interpretation helped shape the public image of Kipling’s characters and settings until Disney’s 1967 animation created a new visual tradition.

“It is difficult to convey just how big their impact was when they were first published," said Lara L’vov-Basirov, Roseberys’ Head of Old Master, British & European Pictures, "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.”