Librarians find rare first edition of 'The Jungle Book' with inscription by the author

Kipling first edition with author's poignant note found

A rare first edition of The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling, with a poignant handwritten note by the author to his young daughter, has been discovered.

The book was found by librarians at the National Trust's Wimpole Hall in Cambridgeshire, where Kipling's eldest daughter, Elsie, lived.

The author wrote the inscription to his daughter Josephine, who died in 1899 aged six, said Trust officials.

The book is on display at Wimpole Hall, where Elsie lived from 1938 to 1976.

The inscription reads: "This book belongs to Josephine Kipling for whom it was written by her father, May 1894."