Dear Jane,
I do apologise for trailing in at the end again on this question. I
will be on holiday from 3.30 on Christmas Eve, so I will respond more
quickly after that - for a day or two.
I agree with John Radcliffe that this verse is almost certainly not
Kipling’s . As David Page points out, it is close enough to the known
first stanza of ‘The Lost Legion’ to be an example of well-intentioned
(but distinctly pedestrian?) paraphrasing. Roger Ayers’s suggestion
that it might be an earlier version is not borne out by the manuscript
copies we have.
The first publication of the verse was, in fact, in May 1893, in the
New York Times. It is often possible to call up a digitised version of
NYT pages, but I have failed with this one. However, I know that it
was titled ‘A Banjo Song’, which may have given rise to David’s dating
to 1895 (June 1895 saw first publication of ‘The Song of the Banjo’,
which did retain its title).
Interestingly, with its later title, ‘The Lost Legion’ was first
collected in that strange copyright-ensuring update of “Ballads and
Barrack Room Ballads” in the United States, published by Macmillan, in
November 1893 (Richards 2010) (!). This was the follow-up to the 1892
B and BRB with the addition of our subject, along with ‘An Answer’,
‘The Dove of Dacca’ and ‘In the Neolithic Age’. I have not been able
to check the exact wording of T.L.L. in this volume, as it is
comparatively rare, and not in my collection here at home.
Incidentally, I see that Stewart has this listed as a second American
edition, whereas Richards (I believe) will show it as a first, which
may give rise to discussion, but does reflect the purpose of the
volume…
In your own library, you should find the verse in English editions of
‘The Seven Seas’ from 1896, I think, and in all the Inclusive and
Definitive collections. Should you be lucky enough to own a Sussex or
Burwash set, then go to volume 33 or volume 26 respectively.
Finally, and amusingly, owners of the Sussex will cheer David Page by
pointing out that there it is dated ‘1895’.
Did Kipling himself confuse Banjos?
Along with many, many others, I cannot wait for Dave Richards to offer
his Bibliography (I typed ‘Bigliography’ at first, with Mr Freud
smiling over my shoulder). I relied on an early proof for much of this
detail.
Best regards, and very best wishes for Christmas and the New Year,
John
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