Two extremely rare original illustrations for “The Jungle Book,” believed lost for over a century, have resurfaced in a private London home and are now set to go to auction.
How the Jungle Book illustrations resurfaced
For decades, two watercolors discreetly hung in a London home. Only recently did the owners discover that they were original works created in 1903 for the illustrated edition of Rudyard Kipling‘s The Jungle Book, long considered lost.
Now the two paintings, depicting scenes from the famous collection of stories, are heading to the podium at Roseberys in London. The auction house estimates each watercolor to fetch between 15,000 and 20,000 pounds (approximately 20,240–26,990 dollars) at the sale set for March 10.
Who were the Detmold brothers and what makes them unique
The illustrations are the work of British twins Edward Julius Detmold and Charles Maurice Detmold, commissioned by publisher Macmillan & Co. for the limited edition luxury portfolio titled Sixteen Illustrations of Subjects From Kipling’s “Jungle Book”.
The project included 16 plates and a frontispiece. However, only six surviving original watercolors from that set are known today, including the two just identified. Overall, this makes the core of the surviving works extremely limited compared to the initial commission.
Born in 1883, the Detmolds were true child prodigies: they first exhibited at the Royal Academy at just 13 years old, then received the prestigious commission for The Jungle Book just five years later. The assignment brought the twins widespread success, but it was also their last joint work.
In 1908, at 25 years old, Maurice took his own life, abruptly ending the collaboration. Edward continued a solid career as a book illustrator, especially appreciated for his depictions of the natural world, until his suicide in 1957, at the age of 73.
What the two works at auction represent
One of the two rediscovered images is attributed to Edward’s hand and is signed “EJD”. It depicts the young protagonist Mowgli sitting next to his protector, the black panther Bagheera. The boy’s slender body contrasts with the tense pose of the animal, whose skin is rendered with rich and nuanced color washes.
The other composition, signed “M DETMOLD” and created by Maurice, shows a group of monkeys gathered on a platform overlooking the ruins of Bandar-log. The seemingly idyllic scene is animated by dense tropical foliage and scattered fruits on the ground, emphasizing the jungle’s opulence.
According to images released by Roseberys, the subjects can be traced back to the plates known as Mowgli and Bagheeras, by Edward, and The Cold Lairs, by Maurice, both conceived as illustrations for the 1903 Kipling edition. This completes an important piece in the reconstruction of the twins’ illustrative corpus.
Why these Jungle Book illustrations are so rare
The Detmold illustrations for The Jungle Book have defined the visual imagination of Kipling’s characters for generations, influencing subsequent adaptations. Additionally, the Macmillan portfolio was often dismantled by collectors, who removed the plates to frame them individually.
For this reason, complete sets of the portfolio are rare today; an intact example is preserved at the Library of Congress. The original dispersion of the prints made it difficult from the start to track the fate of the preparatory drawings, leading to their disappearance from the market.
“Considering how rare even the printed versions of these illustrations are, treated as true works of art and often framed, fragmenting the portfolios, having the opportunity to compete for two of the six surviving original watercolors is an almost unrepeatable chance,” said Lara L’vov-Basirov of Roseberys.
Where the other surviving watercolors are located
The other four known watercolors from The Jungle Book portfolio are now divided between private collections and public institutions. Two significant examples are found at the Natural History Museum in London and the National Trust in the United Kingdom.
In 2024, the National Trust exhibited the work The Return of the Buffalo Herd by Edward Detmold at Bateman’s, Kipling’s former home in East Sussex, highlighting the renewed interest in the illustrative cycle. Compared to these museum venues, the appearance at the London auction now introduces a rare moment of direct competition for collectors.
Market value and collecting prospects
Roseberys’ estimates, ranging from 15,000 to 20,000 pounds for each watercolor, reflect the combination of historical factors, artistic quality, and rarity. In a market increasingly sensitive to provenance, the fact that the works come from the same London family, where they remained for decades, adds an element of interest.
Compared to other author illustrations from the same era, the Detmold plates for The Jungle Book are less frequent at auction, and this can affect competition among international buyers. However, much will also depend on the response of collectors specializing in illustrated publishing and Victorian and Edwardian art.
To delve into the context of the first illustrated edition, the digital catalog of the Library of Congress can be consulted. Additional information on the Natural History Museum’s collections is available on the institution’s dedicated collections site, while the National Trust’s exhibition activity is documented in the art and collections section of its historical collections portal.
Overall, the resurfacing of these two watercolors adds a valuable piece to Kipling’s illustrative history and offers the international market a rare opportunity to gauge the current value of the Detmold brothers, between literary memory and high collectibility.
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