Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

by TWAIN, Mark.

$32,830 · Offered by Biblio

First edition

New York: Charles L. Webster and Company,, 1885. First US edition, in sharp condition in the publisher's deluxe sheep binding. The publishers bound 20,000 copies in cloth, 2,500 in sheep, and 500 in half morocco. Given its fragility, the sheep is the rarest in any form, and nearly always found extensively repaired or in dilapidated condition. This copy has the relevant textual points for the first printing, which were altered for the second. The title and page 283 are in the corrected states as usual (gatherings cancelled); the frontispiece is BAL's second state. These states do not have bearing on priority of issue, as the whole first printing was issued together in February 1885; the British edition was published first, in December 1884. Square octavo. Photogravure frontispiece of Karl Gerhardt's portrait bust of Twain, with tissue guard, 173 illustrations to the text after E. W. Kemble. Original sheep, twin red and black labels. Housed in orange quarter morocco solander box. Ownership signature and stamp of "J. L. Sheaver, July 1885" (likely the Pennsylvanian businessman of that name) to front free endpaper. Very discreet repair to joints, slight discolouration and rubbing to binding. A very good copy. BAL 3415; Grolier, American 100, 87; Johnson, pp. 43-50. Kevin MacDonnell, "Huck Finn among the Issue-Mongers," Firsts; The Book Collector's Magazine, vol. 8, no. 9, 1998.

• Year: 1885
• Edition: First Edition
• Printing: first
• Binding: hardcover

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