So far as I know, Henry James' comments on Kipling's car only survive at
secondhand, in a report by Ford Madox Ford, who was present at the time but
may have coloured them up a bit. The context in the report was that Ford
and Conrad were keen to drive cars but could only afford to rent one for an
hour. Kipling, whose earnings were astronomical compared to theirs, could
afford to buy one, and Ford was obviously green with envy. Kipling was
also earning more than Henry James, so when Ford heard James being amusing
at Kipling's expense he was obviously delighted.
The society's expert on Kipling's cars, Meryl Macdonald Bendle,
gave a talk at Rottingdean a few years ago in which she mentioned the Ford
report and commented that the car hadn't cost anything like 1200 guineas.
I forget what she said the price was, but it was more like 600 or 800.
Lisa Lewis
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