There is no easy way to trace sets, or individual volumes, of the original Reader’s Guide to Rudyard Kipling’s Works, edited by Roger Lancelyn Green, and published in the 1960s in a limited edition by Reginald Harbord. Sixty years after the first volume came out, any records of the first recipients have disappeared.
Many of the sets have been bequeathed, donated or sold on. Others were produced in loose-leaf form, and the “part work” nature of this publication meant that some sets were sent many ways. Of one hundred and five sets, it took more than a year to locate some six hundred volumes. We have used the established academic search engines, library union catalogues by the dozen, discussion groups for librarians such as Exlibris, and the Jiscmail Kipling database, as well as appeals through the Kipling Journal, and this web-site.
It was always intended that the information would be made available for researchers, and especially for contributors to the New Reader’s Guide. (On this basis, we should perhaps relocate to New York, since six of the libraries that have a set would then be within striking distance!)
Thanks must be recorded to librarians all over the world who patiently checked individual volumes for provenance, to Society members who set us on a scent, and to Vinton Cerf et al, and – of course – for the Internet, without which we would have been unable to compile the list.below.
We would be very grateful for confirmation or correction of the list, and for news of further sets. Of course, the location of all privately owned material must remain confidential.
J.W.A.Walker, August 2021
Publicly accessible sets of the
Old Readers’ Guide
| COUNTRY | CITY | UNIVERSITY/ ORGANISATION |
LIBRARY/ COLLECTION |
SETS/ NOTES |
| AUSTRALIA | CANBERRA | NATIONAL LIBRARY OF AUSTRALIA | READERS SERVICES | 1 TO 8? |
| CANADA | ONTARIO | UNIVERSITY OF GUELPH | WATERLOO LIBRARY | 1 T0 8 |
| CANADA | ONTARIO | UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO | ROBARTS LIBRARY | 1 TO 8 |
| CANADA | ONTARIO | UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN ONTARIO | D.B. WELDON LIBRARY | 1 TO 8 |
| CANADA | VANCOUVER | CITY OF VANCOUVER | VANCOUVER PUBLIC LIBRARY | 1 TO 8 |
| EIRE | DUBLIN | TRINITY COLLEGE | EARLY PRINTED BOOKS STACK | 1 T0 8 |
| GERMANY | KONSTANZ | UNIVERSITY OF KONSTANZ | UNIVERSITY LIBRARY | 8 (Verse) |
| SOUTH AFRICA | CAPE TOWN | UNIVERSITY OF CAPE TOWN |
RARE BOOKS AND SPECIAL COLLECTIONS | 1 T0 8 |
| U.K. | BIRMINGHAM | UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM | MAIN LIBRARY | 1 T0 8 |
| U.K. | CAMBRIDGE | UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE | CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY | 1 TO 8 |
| U.K. | DURHAM | UNIVERSITY OF DURHAM | PALACE GREEN LIBRARY, SPECIAL COLLECTIONS | 1 TO 8 |
| U.K. | EAST YORKSHIRE | UNIVERSITY OF HULL | BRYNMOR JONES LIBRARY | 1 T0 8 |
| U.K. | CANTERBURY | UNIVERSITY OF KENT AT CANTERBURY | TEMPLEMAN LIBRARY | 1,2,3,4,5,7,V |
| U.K. | HERTFORDSHIRE | HAILEYBURY AND I.S.C. | KIPLING SOCIETY LIBRARY | 1 TO 8 |
| U.K. | LONDON | THE BRITISH LIBRARY | ST.PANCRAS READING ROOM | I TO 8 |
| U.K. | LONDON | THE BRITISH LIBRARY | ORIENTAL AND INDIA OFFICE COLLECTION | 1 TO 8 |
| U.K. | LONDON | THE LONDON LIBRARY | ENGLISH LITERATURE | 1 TO 8 |
| U.K. | OXFORD | OXFORD UNIVERSITY | THE BODLEIAN LIBRARY | 1 TO 8 |
| U.K. | SCOTLAND | : NATIONAL LIBRARY OF SCOTLAND, EDINBURGH | RARE BOOKS DIVISION | 1 TO 8 |
| U.K. | SUSSEX | UNIVERSITY OF SUSSEX | SPECIAL COLLECTIONS | 1 TO 8 |
| U.K. | WALES | NATIONAL LIBRARY OF WALES, CARDIFF | DEPARTMENT OF PRINTED BOOKS | 1 TO 8 |
| U.K. | YORKSHIRE | UNIVERSITY OF LEEDS | BROTHERTON COLLECTION | 1 TO 8 |
| U.S.A. | ARIZONA | ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY | HAYDEN SPECIAL COLLECTION | 1 TO 8 |
| U.S.A. | CALIFORNIA | HUNTINGTON LIBRARY | REFERENCE SECTION | 1 T0 8 |
| U.S.A. | CALIFORNIA | UNIVERSITY OF BERKELEY | BANCROFT LIBRARY | 1 TO 8 + MICROFILM |
| U.S.A. | CALIFORNIA | UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, RIVERSIDE | SPECIAL COLLECTIONS | 1 TO 8 |
| U.S.A. | CONNECTICUT | YALE UNIVERSITY | STARR MAIN REFERENCE ROOM | 1 TO 8 |
| U.S.A. | GAINESVILLE | UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA | LIBRARY WEST (REFERENCE) | 1 TO 8 |
| U.S.A. | MIAMI | UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI | ARCHIVES AND SPECIAL COLLECTIONS | 1.2 |
| U.S.A. | GEORGIA | EMORY UNIVERSITY | WOODRUFF LIBRARY | 1,2,3,4,5 |
| U.S.A. | ILLINOIS | ILLINOIS STATE UNIVERSITY | SPECIAL COLLECTIONS | 1 TO 8 |
| U.S.A. | ILLINOIS | SOUTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY, EDWARDSVILLE | LOVEJOY LIBRARY, RARE BOOK COLLECTION | I TO 8 |
| U.S.A. | INDIANA | PURDUE UNIVERSITY | HUMANITIES, SCIENCE AND EDUCATION | 1 TO 8 |
| U.S.A. | INDIANA | INDIANA UNIVERSITY, Bloomington | LILLY LIBRARY | 1 TO 8 |
| U.S.A. | INDIANA | NOTRE DAME UNIVERSITY | HESBURGH LIBRARY | 1 TO 8 |
| U.S.A. | MASSACHUSETTS | HARVARD UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES | HOUGHTON LIBRARY | 1 TO 8 |
| U.S.A. | MICHIGAN | MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY | MAIN LIBRARY | 1 TO 8 |
| U.S.A. | MINNESOTA | UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA, MINNEAPOLIS | T.C. WILSON LIBRARY AMES (RARE BOOKS) | 1 TO 8 |
| U.S.A. | MISSOURI | UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI, COLUMBIA | ELLIS LIBRARY | 1 T0 8 |
| U.S.A. | MISSOURI | WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY | OLIN LIBRARY | 1 TO 8? |
| U.S.A. | NEBRASKA | UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA, LINCOLN | SPECIAL COLLECTIONS | 1 TO 8 |
| U.S.A. | NEW YORK | COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY | RARE BOOKS AND MANUSCRIPTS LIBRARY | 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 |
| U.S.A. | NEW YORK | CORNELL UNIVERSITY | KROCH LIBRARY | 1 TO 8 |
| U.S.A. | NEW YORK | NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY | BERG COLLECTION | 1 T0 8 |
| U.S.A. | NEW YORK | NEW YORK UNIVERSITY | BOBST LIBRARY, SPECIAL COLLECTIONS | 1 T0 8 |
| U.S.A. | NEW YORK | STONY BROOK UNIVERSITY | SPECIAL COLLECTIONS | 1 TO 8 |
| U.S.A. | NORTH CAROLINA | DUKE UNIVERSITY | PERKINS LIBRARY SPECIAL COLLECTIONS | 1 TO 8 |
| U.S.A. | NORTH CAROLINA | U.N.C. AT CHAPEL HILL | DAVIS LIBRARY | 1 to 8 |
| U.S.A. | OHIO | MIAMI UNIVERSITY | KING LIBRARY | 3,4,5,6,7,V |
| U.S.A. | OKLAHOMA | OKLAHOMA STATE UNIVERSITY | STILLWATER LIBRARY | 1 TO 8 |
| U.S.A. | OREGON | UNIVERSITY OF OREGON | KNIGHT LIBRARY | 1,2,3,5,6,7,V |
| U.S.A. | TEXAS | TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY | CUSHING MEMORIAL LIBRARY, EVANS | 4.5 |
| U.S.A. | VIRGINIA | UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA | ALBERT AND SHIRLEY LIBRARY | 1 T0 8 |
| U.S.A. | WASHINGTON | LIBRARY OF CONGRESS | JEFFERSON, RARE BOOKS, SPECIAL COLLECTIONS | 1 TO 8 |
| U.S.A. | WISCONSIN | UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN, MADISON | MEMORIAL LIBRARY | 1 TO 8 |