Kipling first edition found at daughter's former home

The book, published in 1894, was found in the library at Wimpole Hall, a stately home near Cambridge owned by the National Trust.

Kipling wrote an inscription to his young daughter, Josephine, who died of pneumonia in 1899 aged six, said Trust officials.

The author's second daughter, Elsie, lived at Wimpole between 1938 and 1976. The Trust said the book was among a collection of Kipling's works which belonged to Elsie.

A Trust spokeswoman said the book was found when librarians were cataloguing the hall's library where it is now on display.

"Kipling dedicated the book to his young daughter, Josephine, when it was published in 1894, but she died of pneumonia five years later at the age of six," said the spokeswoman.

"The inscription is unsigned but, based on many other items in the Kipling archive, is believed to be his handwriting," she said.