tipped-in signed typewritten letter

A handsome set of the first editions, first printings of Kipling's classic two-novel series The Jungle Book, and its sequel The Second Jungle Book, bound by Riviere & Son in onlaid pictorial blue morocco gilt, with a tipped-in typewritten letter signed by Kipling.

First editions, first printing; 2 vols, 8vo (18.5 x 13 cm); richly illustrated with historiated initials, head and tail-piece vignettes and full page plates, tipped-in typewritten letter signed by Kipling, publisher's ads to rear of second work, previous ownership in pen to front free endpaper and to title of first work, a little toned and slightly soiled; 20th-century blue morocco gilt by Riviere & Son, pictorial onlaid morocco vignettes to upper covers within gilt arabesque borders, gilt spines in 6 compartments, rebacked preserving the original spines, original publisher's blue cloth covers and spines bound in at rear of each vol., silk doublures frayed with areas of loss, spines and extremities rubbed with slight loss, housed in a custom-made blue cloth felt-lined slipcase; vi, [2], 212; [6], 238, [2 ads]pp.