"Zam-Zammah," by John Lockwood Kipling

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"Zam-Zammah"

John Lockwood Kipling (1837-1911)

1901

Photographed plaster relief with ornamented frame

Frontispiece to Rudyard Kipling's Kim

"Zam-Zammah" is the name of the gun on which Kim is perched. [Commentary continues below.]

Scanned image and text by Jacqueline Banerjee.

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Son of a feckless (drug-addicted) Irish sergeant who had been stationed in India, Kim has climbed on the mighty cannon, displacing the playmate glimpsed below. Kim and the Tibetan Lama (left) have spotted each other. Orphaned near the beginning, Kim joins the Lama on his quest for the sacred river, "The River of the Arrow." The connection between the two principals is immediately and vividly established here by the powerful crosswise gaze (see James 388). The depth achieved by this innovatory kind of illustration is extraordinary.

Related Material

Bibliography

James, Elizabeth. "Kipling and Book Illustration." In John Lockwood Kipling: Arts and Crafts in the Punjab and London, ed. Julius Bryant and Susan Weber. New York: Bard Graduate Centre Gallery; New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2017. 361-399.

Kipling, Rudyard. Kim. New York: Doubleday, 1901. Internet Archive. Contributed by the New York Public Library. Web. 23 January 2017.

John
Lockwood
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Created 23 January 2017