KIPLING, Rudyard (1865-1936). Author.
The Royal edition of Kipling's The Absent Minded Beggar, paper covers (soiled) tied with red, white, and blue ribbon [1899].
Alfred Harmsworth (later Lord Northcliffe) commissioned Kipling to write the poem to promote his 'Tambourine Fund' for the relief of widows and orphans of ordinary soldiers fighting in the Boer War. The poem became an instant success, selling in the thousands. Sir Arthur Sullivan set the poem to music. The success of the fund enabled Harmsworth to broaden its remit to include aiding wounded soldiers and sailors and their families on their return to England, sending medical supplies to South Africa, and filling gaps in providing safety and comfort to soldiers. In the end, the campaign raised £250,000.

'When you've shouted 'Rule Britannia', when you've sung 'God Save the Queen
When you've finished killing Kruger with your mouth
For a gentleman in Kharki ordered South. ...'

Kipling became embarrassed by the maudlin sentimentality of the poem, declaring that he wished he had never written it, though he was more than a little proud of his ability to raise such enormous sums.
The poem was printed in several versions, including on green silk and on handerchiefs. This 'Royal' edition contains full-page colour illustrations by Gordon Browne, W. Hatherill, Frand Dodd, and Frank Craig, with black and white illustrations by Stanley L. Wood and others on each page.
[No: 23987]