Two long-lost illustrations for Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book rediscovered on the walls of a home are going on sale for £20,000 each.
The find increases the number of known surviving originals from four to six.
Originally, there were 16 of them.
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They were created 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 1894 book itself.
The original edition collected stories that Kipling had previously published in magazines in 1893-4, and featured illustrations from the author’s father, among other artists.
The two newly rediscovered works were produced by artist prodigy twins Edward and Maurice Detmold and were published when they were just 20.
The precocious pair won the commission aged just 18, having already exhibited at the Royal Academy aged just 13.
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Their interpretation helped shape the public image of Kipling’s characters and settings until Disney’s 1967 animation entered the public imagination.
The Jungle Book watercolours proved to be the Detmolds’ final joint venture, as Maurice tragically took his own life aged 25.
The first of the two watercolours depicts Mowgli and Bagheera and is by Edward Detmold, signed “EJD”.
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It shows the young protagonist alongside the black panther Bagheera, rendered with fine linear detail and controlled washes.
The second, The Cold Lairs, is by Maurice Detmold and signed “M DETMOLD”.
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, as reported by What’s The Jam.
The drawings had been hanging unrecognised on the walls of a London family home for decades.
The revelation astounded the owners of the two watercolours.
“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.”
Expert Lara L’vov-Basirov added: “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.”
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.
Rarer still are the original watercolours produced for the project.
Before this discovery, only four were known to have survived – 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.
Kipling was the first English-language author to win the Nobel Prize for Literature, awarded in 1907 when he was 41.
He was also the youngest recipient of the honour, a record that still stands today.
Roseberys will offer both works for sale in London on March 10 with estimates of £15,000 to 20,000 each.
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