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Rare unauthorized edition of Mark Twain's Autobiography (Burlesque) First Romance, and Memoranda
TWAIN, MARK. [SAMUEL L. CLEMENS].
Autobiography (Burlesque) First Romance, and Memoranda.
Toronto: James Campbell & Son [1871].
Rare unauthorized edition of Twain’s witty collection of satirical sketches; this edition possibly containing the first appearance of My Late Senatorial Secretaryship. BAL 3334. Octavo, original publisher’s cloth. In very good condition. Rare.
Price: $375.00 Item Number: 137267
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"I begin to see that a man's got to be in his own Heaven to be happy": Mark Twain's Extract From Captain Stormfield's Visit to Heaven; from the library of American journalist William Safire
TWAIN, MARK [SAMUEL L. CLEMENS].
Extract From Captain Stormfield’s Visit to Heaven.
New York: Harper & Brothers n.d..
Early printing of the last work published by Twain during his lifetime. Octavo, original cloth with titles in white and vignette in black, frontispiece in blue and white, no publication date to the title page. From the library American journalist William Safire with his bookplate to the pastedown. William Safire was an important American author, columnist, journalist, and presidential speechwriter. He joined Nixon’s campaign for the 1960 Presidential race, and again in 1968. After Nixon’s 1968 victory, Safire served as a speechwriter for him and Spiro Agnew. He authored several political columns in addition to his weekly column “On Language” in The New York Times Magazine from 1979 until the month of his death and authored two books on grammar and linguistics: The New Language of Politics (1968) and what Zimmer called Safire’s “magnum opus,” Safire’s Political Dictionary. Safire later served as a member of the Pulitzer Prize Board from 1995 to 2004 and in 2006 was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George W. Bush. In near fine condition.
Price: $475.00 Item Number: 127530
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First edition, first issue of Mark Twain's King Leopold's Soliloquy: A Defense of His Congo Rule
TWAIN, MARK [SAMUEL L. CLEMENS].
King Leopold’s Soliloquy: A Defense of His Congo Rule.
1905: The P. R. Warren Co Boston, Massachusetts.
First edition, first issue of Twain’s work of political satire harshly condemning King Leopold’s rule over the Congo Free State. Small octavo, original wrappers as issued. In very good condition. Housed in a custom cloth and chemise case with a second edition third printing of the pamphlet which contains the publisher’s later advisory, “The publishers desire to state that Mr. Clemens declines to accept any pecuniary return from this booklet, as it is his wish that all proceeds of sales above the cost of publication shall be used in furthering the effort for relief of the people of the Congo State. The P. R. Warren Company Boston, Mass., January 1, 1906.”
Price: $2,000.00 Item Number: 95339
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MARK TWAIN'S (BURLESQUE) AUTOBIOGRAPHY AND FIRST ROMANCE
TWAIN, MARK. [SAMUEL L. CLEMENS].
Mark Twain’s (Burlesque) Autobiography and First Romance.
New York: Sheldon & Company n.d.
First edition, second issue of Twain’s third book with the Ball, Black, & Co. advertisement on verso of the title page (BAL 3326). Octavo, bound in three quarters morocco over marbled boards, gilt titles to the spine, illustrated and extra-illustrated with a tissue-guarded engraved frontispiece of Twain. In good condition.
Price: $200.00 Item Number: 138264
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Rare First Edition, First Printing of Mark Twain's The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, and Other Sketches
TWAIN, MARK [SAMUEL L. CLEMENS].
The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, and Other Sketches.
New York: C.H. Webb 1867.
First edition, first printing of the author’s rare first book. Octavo, original cloth, first issue lacking the leaf of ads facing the title page but with unbroken type on pages 21, 66 and 198. In very good condition with light wear to the extremities. A sharp example.
Price: $18,500.00 Item Number: 125145
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“I AM NOT GIVEN TO EXAGGERATION, AND WHEN I SAY A THING I MEAN IT”: FIRST EDITION OF MARK TWAIN'S ROUGHING IT; from the library of American journalist William Safire
TWAIN, MARK [SAMUEL L. CLEMENS].
Roughing It.
Hartford, Connecticut: American Publishing Company 1872.
First edition, mixed state of Twain’s first semi-autobiographical work of travel literature, essentially a prequel to The Innocents Abroad, lacking the word ‘he’ on page 242 but with the advert present on page 592 (BAL 3337). Octavo, bound in three quarter morocco with gilt titles and tooling to the spine in six compartments within raised gilt bands, marbled endpapers, top edge gilt, fully illustrated by eminent artists with wood engravings throughout. From the library of William Safire with his bookplate to the pastedown. William Safire was an important American author, columnist, journalist, and presidential speechwriter. He joined Nixon’s campaign for the 1960 Presidential race, and again in 1968. After Nixon’s 1968 victory, Safire served as a speechwriter for him and Spiro Agnew. He authored several political columns in addition to his weekly column “On Language” in The New York Times Magazine from 1979 until the month of his death and authored two books on grammar and linguistics: The New Language of Politics (1968) and what Zimmer called Safire’s “magnum opus,” Safire’s Political Dictionary. Safire later served as a member of the Pulitzer Prize Board from 1995 to 2004 and in 2006 was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George W. Bush. In very good condition.
Price: $1,200.00 Item Number: 127994
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Mark Twain's Roughing It; Inscribed by him to Mrs. P. T. Barnum
TWAIN, MARK. [SAMUEL L. CLEMENS].
Roughing It.
Hartford: American Publishing Company 1874.
Early printing of Twain’s first semi-autobiographical work of travel literature, essentially a prequel to The Innocents Abroad. Octavo, bound in three quarter morocco with gilt titles to the spine, fully illustrated by eminent artists with wood engravings throughout. Association copy, inscribed by Mark Twain on the fly-leaf, “For Mrs. P. T. Barnum with kindest wishes of Samuel L. Clemens Oct. 1875.” The recipient, Nancy Fish, was the second wife of American showman P. T. Barnum. Twain and Barnum were, by various accounts, friends, mutual admirers and rivals. After visiting Barnum’s American Business Museum in New York City as a teenager, Twain criticized it as “one vast peanut stand” yet upon the opening of Barnum’s Hippodrome in 1875, he remarked, “I hardly know which to wonder at most—its stupendousness, or the pluck of the man who has dared to venture upon so vast an enterprise. I mean to come to see the show,— but to me you are the biggest marvel connected with it.” He alluded to Barnum frequently in both his published works and private correspondence, and although he received many invitations from Barnum to dine in New York, he always declined. Barnum even proposed that the two collaborate on an anthology of “queer literature” based on letters he received from strangers hoping to join his circus, but Twain expressed little interest in the project. In 1867, Twain published “Barnum’s First Speech in Congress”, a satire of Reconstruction politics that painted Barnum as a ruthless exploiter of the performers he employed. Twain referred to the work as a “spiritual telegraph” delivered “to [him] in advance from the spirit world” and was certain that Barnum would never be elected to high office. Barnum was married to Charity Hallett from 1829 until her death in 1873, and they had four children. In 1874, a few months after his wife’s death, he married Nancy Fish, his friend’s daughter who was 40 years his junior. They were married until 1891 when Barnum died of a stroke at his home. He was buried in Mountain Grove Cemetery, Bridgeport, which he designed himself. In very good condition. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box. An outstanding association copy.
Price: $30,000.00 Item Number: 133025
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Exceptionally rare first English edition of Mark Twain's The Gilded Age
TWAIN, MARK AND CHARLES DUDLEY WARNER. [SAMUEL L. CLEMENS].
The Gilded Age: A Novel.
London: George Routledge and Sons 1874.
First English edition of the rarest of Mark Twain’s works: the only novel he wrote with a collaborator and the book that gave the era its name in history. Octavo, three volumes, original publishers green cloth, gilt titles to the spine, illustrated. The only multi-volume work Clemens produced, except for the two-volume Tramp Abroad (London, 1880), the first English edition of The Gilded Age is the rarest of Mark Twain’s major works and the most difficult to obtain. Its rarity is due largely to its format, three volume sets were quite expensive and were produced almost solely for circulating libraries during the Reconstruction era, and so, the books were vigorously read by many readers, generally rebound, and most were pulped in paper drives during the Second World War. In 1873, Samuel Clemens had written only four other major books – The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, The Innocents Abroad, Mark Twain’s (Burlesque) Autobiography, and Roughing It. A relatively unknown American author in London at the time, the English edition would have necessarily been small, no more than a few hundred. From the library of noted collector Frederic R. Kirkland. Kirkland formed a well-known collection of Americana and American and British literature, much of which was sold in 1962. In very good condition. Housed in a custom half morocco folding chemise slipcase. Exceptionally rare, with one other copy traced in auction records and only the Yale set listed in the Bibliography of American Literature.
Price: $65,000.00 Item Number: 133018
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INSCRIBED AND SIGNED FIRST EDITION OF MARK TWAIN’S THE GILDED AGE TO MRS. P.T. BARNUM ACCOMPANIED BY AN AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED
TWAIN, MARK AND CHARLES DUDLEY WARNER. [SAMUEL L. CLEMENS].
The Gilded Age: A Tale of To-Day.
Hartford: American Publishing Company 1874.
First edition, mixed state of the only novel Clemens wrote with a collaborator and the book that gave the era it’s name in history.
Association copy, inscribed by Mark Twain on the fly-leaf, “To Mrs. P. T. Barnum with the kindest wishes of The Author Oct 1875.”
Octavo, bound in three quarter morocco, gilt titles to the spine, marbled endpapers, all edges marbled, fully illustrated from new designs by Hoppin, Stephens, Williams, White, etc., folding map. Sold by subscription only.
The volume is accompanied by an autograph letter signed by Clemens to the second wife of P.T. Barnum of 14 April [no year]: “My Dear Mrs. Barnum: My wife and I are greatly pained to learn of the decease of Mrs. Seeley whom we remember so well & so pleasantly. Words are of but little value at such a time, but still we are moved to tender our deep sympathy to you & your household in you great bereavement. Truly yours Samuel L. Clemens.”
Twain and Barnum were, by various accounts, friends, mutual admirers, and rivals. After visiting Barnum’s American Business Museum in New York City as a teenager, Twain criticized it as “one vast peanut stand” yet upon the opening of Barnum’s Hippodrome in 1875, he remarked, “I hardly know which to wonder at most…its stupendousness, or the pluck of the man who has dared to venture upon so vast an enterprise.” Clemens alluded to Barnum frequently in both his published works and private correspondence, and although he received many invitations from Barnum to dine in New York, he always declined. Barnum even proposed that the two collaborate on an anthology of “queer literature” based on letters he received from strangers hoping to join his circus, but Twain expressed little interest in the project. In 1867, Twain published “Barnum’s First Speech in Congress” , a satire of Reconstruction politics that painted Barnum as a ruthless exploiter of the performers he employed. Twain referred to the work as a “spiritual telegraph” delivered to him in advance from the “spirit world” and was certain that Barnum would never be elected to high office.
In very good condition. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box. A very unique association copy.
Price: $50,000.00 Item Number: 133022
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First edition of The Innocents Abroad; inscribed by Mark Twain to Mrs. P. T. Barnum
TWAIN, MARK. [SAMUEL L. CLEMENS].
The Innocents Abroad, Or The New Pilgrims’ Progress.
Hartford: American Publishing Company 1874.
First edition, second issue of the author’s second book, one of the best-selling travel books of all-time. Octavo, bound in three quarter morocco with gilt titles to the spine, marbled endpapers, all edges marbled, with two hundred and thirty-four illustrations. Association copy, inscribed by Mark Twain on the fly-leaf, “To Mrs. P. T. Barnum from Yours Truly Samuel L. Clemens Mark Twain Oct 1875.” The recipient, Nancy Fish, was the second wife of American showman P. T. Barnum. Twain and Barnum were, by various accounts, friends, mutual admirers and rivals. After visiting Barnum’s American Business Museum in New York City as a teenager, Twain criticized it as “one vast peanut stand” yet upon the opening of Barnum’s Hippodrome in 1875, he remarked, “I hardly know which to wonder at most—its stupendousness, or the pluck of the man who has dared to venture upon so vast an enterprise. I mean to come to see the show,— but to me you are the biggest marvel connected with it.” He alluded to Barnum frequently in both his published works and private correspondence, and although he received many invitations from Barnum to dine in New York, he always declined. Barnum even proposed that the two collaborate on an anthology of “queer literature” based on letters he received from strangers hoping to join his circus, but Twain expressed little interest in the project. In 1867, Twain published “Barnum’s First Speech in Congress”, a satire of Reconstruction politics that painted Barnum as a ruthless exploiter of the performers he employed. Twain referred to the work as a “spiritual telegraph” delivered “to [him] in advance from the spirit world” and was certain that Barnum would never be elected to high office. Barnum was married to Charity Hallett from 1829 until her death in 1873, and they had four children. In 1874, a few months after his wife’s death, he married Nancy Fish, his friend’s daughter who was 40 years his junior. They were married until 1891 when Barnum died of a stroke at his home. He was buried in Mountain Grove Cemetery, Bridgeport, which he designed himself. In very good condition. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box. An outstanding association copy.
Price: $35,000.00 Item Number: 133104