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Dear Tim, Hodder and Stoughton's editions of Song of the English with W. Heath Robinson's illustrations are not uncommon in second-hand bookshops so they should be generally known amongst those who collect Kipling's works. However, getting a good copy is rare, as H & S regular editions were printed on soft, almost 'light sensitive' paper which browns and foxes easily. There are a number of limited editions even rarer, the first, November 1909, edition had no less than three 'limited' versions; 500 bound in vellum on hand-made paper signed by W Heath Robinson, an unspecified number of the same edition without the signature and 50 bound in full pigskin and signed by Rudyard Kipling - then the regular edition mentioned above. A similar hand-made paper edition was also published by Doubleday, Page & Co, New York, and the regular edition also appeared with a Toronto imprint. All these are quarto and have 30 coloured prints, so the edition that has been used as the basis for the description on the Victorian Web page you quoted must be from one of the later editions. The first with the 16 coloured prints mentioned on the web appeared in 1915 in support of the Daily Telegraph National Bands Fund and has an appropriate title page with a copy of Kipling's speech in support of that Fund inserted at the back. Then came an undated small quarto edition with twelve coloured plates, followed in October 1919 by another regular quarto edition with the 16 coloured plates. This was reprinted twice, in 1920 and 1930, both undated but with identifiable differences. The scene that you have doubts about is a Boer War scene, not WW1, and Kipling is acknowledging England's debt to the 'Younger Nations' - having castigated the English in 'The Islanders' with " Ere - ye fawned on the Younger Nations for the men who could shoot and ride". The hat is Heath Robinson's idea of a broad-brimmed bush hat, as also shown in the small cuts of 'Man contemplating the sea' and 'Man waving hat at ship' shown on the website. W.Heath Robinson also illustrated a special edition of the American Collected Verse of Rudyard Kipling, Doubleday, Page & Company, New York, 1910. This has 8 coloured prints tipped in (including one with the same hat) and 8 large black and white illustrations. All are very similar in subject and style to his work for Song of the English and a couple of small black and white illustrations used to top or tail sections of the book came directly from its predecessor. The Victorian Web appears unaware of these examples of Heath Robinson's work. Yours, Roger Roger Ayers Membership Secretary The Kipling Society ----- Original Message ----- From: Connell, Tim To: [log in to unmask] Sent: Sunday, September 24, 2006 8:59 PM Subject: Kipling and Heath Robinson Is it generally known that Heath Robinson illustrated Kipling's "Song of the English"? I for one had not realised that his illustrations go far beyond his celebrated machinery! (And it appears that his first illustrated volume was Don Quixote.) I have come across a well-illustrated site at: http://www.victorianweb.org/art/illustration/whr/index.html One thing I don't quite understand - there is a note that this was published by Hodder in 1909, but the illustration for "We that were bred overseas" quite clearly shows a World War One scene with a New Zealand infantryman wearing one of their characteristic "lemon squeezer" hats. Can anyone cast light on this? Tim Connell