The Jungle Book art found in junk shop auctioned

Illustrations of Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book characters commissioned 122 years ago are going up for auction.

Auctioneer Potters will start taking bids on the 16-illustration collection at its Messingham saleroom, near Scunthorpe, on Thursday.

The artwork's current owner found the watercolours in a Hastings junk shop half a century ago, according to the auction house.

Macmillan Publishers commissioned the folio in 1903 and published the illustrations alongside the stories five years later, Potters said.

"Just 500 of the folios were produced and that was for both Britain and America," said saleroom director Kat Lister.

She added that many of the folios - drawn by illustrators Maurice and Edward Detmold - have since been broken up so pages could be framed individually, meaning "surviving complete folios are incredibly rare".

This copy of the folio bears the bookplate of Bristol businessman Sir George White, who pioneered the city's aerospace industry and electric tram network.

The current owner is not confirming the sum they originally paid for the collection in Hastings, according to Potters.

The amount was large enough to "make her walk away from the emporium" and return later when she "worked out how she could raise the cash", Ms Lister said.

But the auction house added the expected sale price of between £2,000 and £4,000 was "rather more'" than the 1970s price.

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