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"Taking the pledge will not make bad liquor good, but it will improve it": The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn; inscribed by Mark Twain
TWAIN, MARK. [SAMUEL L. CLEMENS].
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Tom Sawyer’s Comrade).
New York: Charles L. Webster and Company 1886.
Early printing of Twain’s masterpiece, inscribed by Mark Twain. Octavo, bound in half buckram by Roycroft with paper labels to the spine, tissue-guarded frontispiece photogravure plate of Gerhardt’s bust of Clemens, one hundred and seventy-four illustrations by E. W. Kemble. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the title page, “To Mr. Garth W. Cate: Taking the pledge will not make bad liquor good, but it will improve it. Truly Yours, Mark Twain, Nov. 25/06.” With a lengthy letter of provenance dated October 14, 1964 and signed by the recipient which reads in part, “Dear Mr. Jacobs, If I had been younger and could have carried out a study of some of Mark Twain’s motives and acts, I never would have parted with my cherished old copy of the first printing of Huckleberry Finn. This was the first book given to me by my father… In 1906-1907 I was a lecture manager for Elbert Hubbard, the Sage of East Aurora, whose quasi-socialist group The Roycrofters was quite famous as an arts and crafts enter at East Aurora, New York. By that time the HUCK FINN was loose in its covers… Elbert Hubbard saw the book on my desk when I brought it in to have it rebound in the Roycroft Bindery. Said he, “No author could resist seeing such a well worn volume testifying to the delight it had given many readers. Why don’t you send it down to Mark Twain and ask him to inscribed it. I’ll sign and send Mark a few of my own books along with it, thus salting the mine for you.” So I sent HUCK back to its spiritual father, and when it returned I was somewhat shocked, having been sent to a temperance Sunday School by a whiskey fearing mother, to find that he had inscribed it “To Mr. Garth W. Cate – Taking the pledge will not make bad liquor good, but will improve it.” (Incidentally it was several years after that before I took my first drink. I am an abstainer today). Later on I was to marry a Christian Science practitioner, and when she saw this inscription she exclaimed: Why, that is the most immoral thing I ever saw! How could a great author send such a sentiment to a young man?” A careful search of Mark Twain’s writings revealed that he had a deep-seated lifetime aversion for pledges, especially when they had been obtained under pressure from those of an older generation. It seems when Mark was a boy in his early teens, his mother and aunt talked and pressured him into signing a pledge not to touch alcohol in any from. Later he was to refer to this as “A ball and chain clanking behind him down the years of time.” He hated such restrictions, especially when thrust upon him while immature.” In very good condition. With the original publisher’s decorated green cloth cover bound in and three rare portraits of Twain tipped in. With two further letters of provenance and several period Twain-related clippings adhered to several pages. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box. An exceptional presentation copy with noted provenance.
Price: $75,000.00 Item Number: 123083
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“That is just the way with some people. They get down on a thing when they don’t know nothing about it": First Edition Of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in The Rare Original Publisher’s Morocco
TWAIN, MARK [SAMUEL L. CLEMENS].
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn [Tom Sawyer’s Comrade].
New York: Charles L. Webster and Company 1885.
First edition, first issue of Twain’s masterpiece, one of approximately 500 copies bound in publisher’s three-quarters morocco binding. Octavo, original three-quarters brown morocco and marbled boards, gilt-decorated spine, marbled endpapers. Lithographic frontispiece and with 174 illustrations by E.W. Kemble, photographic portrait frontispiece of the bust of Mark Twain by Karl Gerhardt. Copies of Huckleberry Finn in the original publisher’s leather bindings are quite rare: “The relative rarity of the cloth and leather bindings is clear. Less than two weeks before publication, [the publisher] Webster announced that he was binding 20,000 copies in cloth, another 2,500 in sheep, and 500 copies in three-quarter leather. The remaining 7000 copies of the first printing were probably bound up in similar proportions leather copies dried out, cracked apart, and have survived in even fewer numbers than the original production numbers would promise” (MacDonnell, 35). In very good condition, rebacked with light rubbing to extremities. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box. A very nice example.
Price: $12,500.00 Item Number: 73064
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FIRST EDITION OF MARK TWAIN'S ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN
TWAIN, MARK. [SAMUEL CLEMENS].
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Tom Sawyer’s Comrade).
New York: Charles L. Webster and Company 1885.
First edition, first issue of Mark Twain’s masterpiece. Octavo, original publisher’s decorated green cloth, with 174 illustrations by Edward W. Kemble. With all of the agreed upon first issue points for the clothbound book: page 9 with “Decided” remaining uncorrected (to “Decides”); page 13, illustration captioned “Him and another Man” listed as on page 88; page 57, 11th line from bottom reads “with the was,” instead of “with the saw”. Other points of bibliographical interest included in this copy are the frontispiece portrait with the tablecloth under the bust, bearing the Heliotype Printing Co. imprint; copyright page dated 1884; page 143 with “l” missing from “Col.” at top of illustration and with broken “b” in “body” on line seven; page 155 with a larger final “5”; page 161, no signature mark “11”. As to issue points resulting from damaged plates (e.g. the dropped “5” on p 155), MacDonnell concludes, “they are of no significance in determining the sequence of the printing of the sheets. All of these occur at random in relation to each other within copies of the first printing, a strong indicator of the use of multiple plates, and possibly mixed sheets within the collating process” (“Huck Finn” Firsts Magazine). In very good condition with the gilt to the spine bright. Bookplate to the pastedown.
Price: $12,000.00 Item Number: 123228
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“That is just the way with some people. They get down on a thing when they don’t know nothing about it": First Edition Of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in The Rare Original Publisher’s Morocco
TWAIN, MARK [SAMUEL L. CLEMENS].
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn [Tom Sawyer’s Comrade].
New York: Charles L. Webster and Company 1885.
First edition, first issue of Twain’s masterpiece, one of approximately 500 copies bound in publisher’s three-quarters morocco binding. Octavo, original three-quarters brown morocco and marbled boards, gilt-decorated spine, marbled endpapers. Lithographic frontispiece and with 174 illustrations by E.W. Kemble, photographic portrait frontispiece of the bust of Mark Twain by Karl Gerhardt. Copies of Huckleberry Finn in the original publisher’s leather bindings are quite rare: “The relative rarity of the cloth and leather bindings is clear. Less than two weeks before publication, [the publisher] Webster announced that he was binding 20,000 copies in cloth, another 2,500 in sheep, and 500 copies in three-quarter leather. The remaining 7000 copies of the first printing were probably bound up in similar proportions leather copies dried out, cracked apart, and have survived in even fewer numbers than the original production numbers would promise” (MacDonnell, 35). In very good condition. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box. A nice example.
Price: $11,500.00 Item Number: 105655
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The Definitive Edition of the Writings of Mark Twain; Signed by Mark Twain and his biographer and literary executor Albert Bigelow Paine
TWAIN, MARK [SAMUEL L. CLEMENS].
The Writings of Mark Twain. [Including The Adventures of Tom Sawyer; The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn; Innocents Abroad; Life on the Mississippi; A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court; The Prince and the Pauper; A Tramp Abroad].
New York: Gabriel Wells 1922-27.
The Definitive edition, one of 1024 numbered sets, with volume one signed by Mark Twain and Albert Bigelow Paine. The publisher states that Twain intended a definitive edition and signed 1024 single leaves in 1906 in anticipation of this edition. Octavo, 37 volumes, bound in three quarters morocco, gilt titles and tooling to the spine over marbled boards, each volume illustrated with frontispiece and plates. In very good condition.
Price: $9,800.00 Item Number: 125020
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FIRST EDITION, FIRST PRINTING OF MARK TWAIN'S ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN; FROM THE LIBRARY OF WILLIAM SAFIRE
TWAIN, MARK. [SAMUEL CLEMENS].
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Tom Sawyer’s Comrade).
New York: Charles L. Webster and Company 1885.
First edition, first issue of Mark Twain’s masterpiece. Octavo, bound in full dark green morocco with morocco spine label lettered in gilt, raised bands to the spine, mar top edge gilt, with 174 illustrations by Edward W. Kemble. With all of the agreed upon first issue points for the clothbound book: page 9 with “Decided” remaining uncorrected (to “Decides”); page 13, illustration captioned “Him and another Man” listed as on page 88; page 57, 11th line from bottom reads “with the was,” instead of “with the saw”. Other points of bibliographical interest included in this copy are the frontispiece portrait with the tablecloth under the bust, bearing the Heliotype Printing Co. imprint; copyright page dated 1885; page 143 with “l” missing from “Col.” at top of illustration and with broken “b” in “body” on line seven; page 155 with the final “5” missing; page 161, no signature mark “11”. As to issue points resulting from damaged plates (e.g. the dropped “5” on p 155), MacDonnell concludes, “they are of no significance in determining the sequence of the printing of the sheets. All of these occur at random in relation to each other within copies of the first printing, a strong indicator of the use of multiple plates, and possibly mixed sheets within the collating process” (“Huck Finn” Firsts Magazine). From the library of William Safire with his bookplate to the pastedown. William Safire was an important American author, Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist, journalist, and presidential speechwriter. He joined Nixon’s campaign in the 1960 Presidential race, and again in 1968. Following Nixon’s 1968 victory, Safire served as a presidential speechwriter for both Nixon and Vice President Spiro Agnew. He was a frequent guest on Meet The Press, describing himself as the voice of “libertarian conservatives” and authored several political columns, most notably his weekly column “On Language” which appeared in The New York Times Magazine from 1979 until the month of his death in 2009. He 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 fine condition with the original cloth bound in at rear which is, itself, exceptionally bright.
Price: $9,500.00 Item Number: 127896
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FIRST EDITION OF ONE OF THE MASTERPIECES OF AMERICAN LITERATURE, MARK TWAIN'S THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER
TWAIN, MARK [SAMUEL L. CLEMENS].
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.
Hartford: American Publishing Company 1876.
First edition, first printing, mixed state of the apotheosis of American boyhood. Octavo, bound in three quarters morocco over cloth, gilt topstain. In near fine condition with half-title and frontispiece on the same leaf, with 1875 on the copyright page and 1876 on the title page, and with the 10-point type to the word “THE” on the half-title page, four page publishers advertisements at end. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell chemise and box.
Price: $8,200.00 Item Number: 119453
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“I do not wish any reward but to know I have done the right thing": First Edition of Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
TWAIN, MARK [SAMUEL L. CLEMENS] .
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn [Tom Sawyer’s Comrade].
New York: Charles L. Webster and Company 1885.
First edition of Twain’s masterpiece, with the first state of the frontispiece portrait. Octavo, original publisher’s decorated green cloth gilt to the spine and front panel. With frontispiece portrait of Twain inserted at front (with the imprint of the Heliotype Printing Co., but the cloth is not visible). This example exhibits the following issue points: title leaf is conjugate. Copyright notice dated 1884; the illustration captioned “Him and another Man” [p.13] listed as p.88 (first state); 11th line from bottom of p.57 reads “…with the was…” (first state); p. 283 is an integral leaf with the corrected engraving; the final 5 in the numeration of page 155 is larger than the first and slightly below the others; leaf 23-8 is present as a blank; first state of the frontispiece portrait (imprint of Heliotype with tablecloth visible). In near fine condition with light toning to the extremities. A very bright example.
Price: $7,200.00 Item Number: 85975
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MARK TWAIN'S ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN
TWAIN, MARK. [SAMUEL CLEMENS].
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Tom Sawyer’s Comrade).
New York: Charles L. Webster and Company 1885.
First edition, mixed state of Mark Twain’s masterpiece. Octavo, original publisher’s decorated green cloth, with 174 illustrations by Edward W. Kemble. With the agreed upon first issue point for the clothbound book: page 9 with “Decided” remaining uncorrected (to “Decides”). Other points of bibliographical interest included in this copy are page 13, illustration captioned “Him and another Man” listed as on page 87; page 57, 11th line from bottom reads “with the saw”; the frontispiece portrait without the tablecloth under the bust; copyright page dated 1884; page 143 with “l” present in “Col.” at top of illustration but with broken “b” in “body” on line seven; page 155 with a larger final “5”; page 161, no signature mark “11”. As to issue points resulting from damaged plates (e.g. the dropped “5” on p 155), MacDonnell concludes, “they are of no significance in determining the sequence of the printing of the sheets. All of these occur at random in relation to each other within copies of the first printing, a strong indicator of the use of multiple plates, and possibly mixed sheets within the collating process” (“Huck Finn” Firsts Magazine). In near fine condition. An exceptional example.
Price: $6,500.00 Item Number: 127031
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The Adventures of tom sawyer; finely bound in full crushed red morocco
TWAIN, MARK. [SAMUEL CLEMENS].
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.
London: J.M. Dent & Sons 1969.
Finely bound edition of Twain’s masterpiece. Octavo, bound in full crushed red morocco, gilt titles and tooling to the spine in six compartments within raised gilt bands, double gilt ruled to the front and rear panels, gilt turn-ins and inner dentelles, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt, illustrated by C. Walter Hodges. In fine condition. An exceptional presentation of Twain’s masterpiece.
Price: $1,800.00 Item Number: 134505