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For Peter Borcherds I don't think that the 'Royal Edition' of The Absent-minded beggar' was special in a 'royal' way except for the fact that the publishers included a picture of Queen Victoria while dedicating the booklet , not to the Queen herself, but to 'The Soldiers of the Queen'. See attached image of page 3. While the copy that I purchased 25 years ago was marked 'scarce', the price was relatively modest and its cellophane envelope boasted that the new Orloff printing process, which the booklet was being used to advertise, could print at the rate of 'about One Thousand Copies an Hour', so I can't believe it was truly a limited edition. See image Envelope. The front and back covers and five of the twelve pages display impressive examples of the colour printing, showing heraldry and patriotic symbols, page 3 is as shown and the other six pages carry the poem and a number of pictures by well-known newspaper and magazine illustrators. See image of page 9 Since the amount contributed, threepence per copy, were, according to the envelope, acknowledged periodically in the Daily Mail, it should be possible, with some research, to determine the number actually sold - which might differ from the number printed. Roger Ayers ----- Original Message ----- From: "Peter Borcherds" <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Thursday, August 16, 2012 9:31 PM Subject: The absent-minded beggar -- Royal ed. A quick way to search the major British and Irish research libraries is to use COPAC What is Copac? Copac exposes rare and unique research material by bringing together the catalogues of over 70 major UK and Irish libraries. In a single search you can discover the holdings of the UK’s national libraries (including the British Library), many University libraries, and specialist research libraries. Researchers and educators use Copac to save time in their research, to quickly and easily discover and locate resources, to check document details, review materials in their field, and assess the rarity of materials etc. Information professionals trust Copac to give them access to a unique pool of high-quality bibliographic information. I searched COPAC for Rudyard Kipling : The absent minded beggar In a few seconds it generated the list shown in the attachment Perhaps the most interesting entry is for the copy in the University of Newcastle Library Title The absent-minded beggar<http://copac.ac.uk/search?author=kipling&title=The%20absent%20minded%20beggar&sort-order=ti%2C-date&rn=1> / Rudyard Kipling. Author Kipling, Rudyard, 1865-1936 Edition Royal ed. Published * London : Printing Arts Co. : Simpkin Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co., [1900 It is in a "special collection" so it is likely that the only way to access it is to register as a user and to visit the library. Regards Peter 0121 475 3029