Folks,
RE: Having exhausted library sources, can anyone direct me to someone
who might have copies of "Boys of England" [Vol. (No.)] 32(802) and 32
(808) i.e., the March 31 and May 12, 1882 issues.
I'm trying -- so far in vain -- to obtain a complete run of an
anonymous serial novel entitled "Val and I; or, The Wandering Boy of
the Jungle," which appeared weekly in the story paper <<Boys of
England. A Journal of Sport Travel, Fun and Instruction for the Youth
of All Nations>> in 1882. I have posted the text (HTML) of the 13 of
16 instalments available to me here:
http://www.geocities.com/ruritanian_muglug/val.html
I am missing [Vol(No.)] 31(796): 326-328. - 17/02/1882 but can obtain
that through the Univ. of Leeds Libraries, unfortunately they are
missing vol. 32.
So I am also missing
32(802): 38-40. - 31/03/1882
32(808): 134-136. - 12/05/1882
note that these page numbers are inferred from the placement of the
story in the 13 instalments I do have (i.e. always the 6th, 7th, and
8th page of 16), so if for some odd reason there's an extra page in
one of these instalments, I'd like that too.
The initial 13 parts I obtained through the Gale Group's online "19th
century British periodicals" collection. These two issues are not
available there.
I (and the interlibrary loan (ILL) service at the university where I
work) have both checked the catalogues of ~30 libraries worldwide
which have some holdings of this publication, but only one has v. 32,
the British Library. However, my university's ILL system's request,
my direct request, and the request of a British colleague who has
direct access to the British Library, for a photocopy or other
reproduction of these 6 pages has been refused, with no explanation
of why. Of course I suspect that their copy may be in too bad a shape
to be reproduced, but I don't know.
I've also tried online used book sites like abebooks and alibris,
with no success.
This story, which includes the minor but important character of
Yunacka, a feral boy living in the Indian jungle, predates Rudyard
Kipling's "The Jungle Book" by over 10 years! Actually, Yunacka has a
much closer resemblance to William Murray Graydon's Bobbili, a feral
panther boy featured in Graydon's 1895 novel "Jungles and traitors;
or, The wild animal trappers of India:
http://132.206.25.15/agreng/dodds/jungtrap.htm
in both cases the feral boy is intimate with a panther and helps out
white Europeans overcome native attacks in India.
So, pretty pretty please with sugar and cinnamon on it
let me know where I might find this elusive material.
Thanks, G. Dodds