These letters take Kipling from his condition as an unknown in 1889 through a decade of remarkable production to the status of world-famous writer, ending with his near-fatal illness in New York. They are full of new information about his remarkable rise from obscurity to eminence. This was a decade of extraordinary productivity, and these letters include much new information about Kipling’s career.

They form a natural unit, since after his illness Kipling’s wife took charge of the correspondence. Up to that point Kipling conducted his own literary affairs with A. P. Watt. Kipling distrusted publishers, so it was the Watts, father and son, who received most of what he had to say about his literary plans and problems.

Professor Pinney’s many publications on Kipling include his editing of the six-volume The Letters of Rudyard Kipling (Palgrave Macmillan, 1990–2004), Rudyard Kipling's Uncollected Speeches: A Second Book of Words (ELT Press, 2008), and The Cambridge Edition of the Poems of Rudyard Kipling (Cambridge University Press, 2013). He brings his extensive knowledge of Kipling’s life and writings to this volume with an informative introduction and helpful notes to the letters. This book will be of keen interest to readers of Rudyard Kipling at all levels.