HUCKLEBERRY FINN Mark Twain 1885 *1ST/1ST/1ST STATE* NR

   
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VERY RARE, INDEED -- & VERY COLLECTIBLE 1ST ISSUE (ALL POINTS CONFIRMED -- PLEASE SEE ELABORATION BELOW)... OF ONE OF AMERICAN LITERATURE'S ALL-TIME CLASSICS.

** 1ST/1ST/1ST/1885 ** 

ILLUSTRATED BY E.W. KEMBLE.   ORIGINAL. PUB. BOARDS.  NOT REBOUND.  PUBLISHED:  Charles L. Webster and Co., NY.

MARK TWAIN.  HUCKLEBERRY FINN.

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RARE 1ST STATE/1ST ISSUE!

1st/1st/1st.  First American State (Issue) of First American Printing of First American Edition (ALL POINTS).  In ORIGINAL PUBLISHER BOARDS (Green w/elaborate GILT and Black stamped art and blocking); not rebound.  Published by Charles Webster and Co. (TWAIN'S

 OWN PUBLISHING CO. -- known for also publishing President Ulysses S. Grant's 2-Volume Memoir):  NY.  1885.  WITH 174 ILLUSTRATIONS -- including FRONTIS w/Tissue Guard.  SOLID, COMPLETE, NICELY-PRESENTING title. 

  NOTE THAT PIX WITHIN LISTING, ITSELF, ARE FOR ILLUSTRATIVE PURPOSES ONLY.  PIX OF AUCTIONED BOOK (APPROX 12) ARE IN STANDARD EBAY POSITIONS.

OFFERED AT A VERY LOW STARTING BID, AND COMPLETELY WITHOUT RESERVE. 

FREE SHIPPING DOMESTICALLY; INTERNATIONALLY AT COST (INSURANCE RESPECTFULLY REQUESTED ON INTERNATIONAL SHIPMENTS).

 

     Beloved and heralded American author, humorist, and lecturer; winner of a worldwide audience (something far less common for an American in Twain's era) for his fine stories, many of youthful adventure  -- author of many highly-acclaimed, tremendously popular works:  both humorous and enlightening, such as LIFE ON THE MISSISSIPPI; THE PRINCE AND THE PAUPER; A TRAMP ABROAD; etc.,  Hartford (CT) resident and neighbor/friend of Harriet Beecher Stowe (Uncle Tom's Cabin, etc.):

 

MARK TWAIN, pseudonym of Samuel    Langhorne Clemens.  

     Generations after THIS book's publication, esteemed Pulitzer and Nobel Prize-winning author ERNEST HEMINGWAY would famously write:  "All modern American literature comes from just one book by [author MARK TWAIN] called "Huckleberry Finn."  Twain's remarkable novel has been translated into more than 50 languages and has gone through more than 250 American editions and 1,000 foreign editions.

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MARK TWAIN'S HIGHSPOT, CLASSIC WORK -- AND IN SOME WAYS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT WORKS IN AMERICAN LITERATURE:

ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN (TOM SAWYER'S COMRADE).

 

 Twain's justly acclaimed (on the worldwide stage, and so creating a classic on par with anything of Dickens or Shakespeare in terms of spot-on social commentary and character portrayal) comedic novel -- dealing with racial prejudices, among other relevant important issues -- involved the tale, of course, of a long and frequently interrupted voyage down the great Mississippi River.  The book's narrator, Huck (a youngster with artless, vernacular speech) has been said by critics as being "admirably adapted to detailed and poetic descriptions of scenes and and narrative renditions, that are both widely hilarious and subtly ironic."

 

A TRUE MASTERPIECE!  Published:  Charles Webster and Co., NY:  1885.

TRUE 1ST ISSUE of 1ST PRINTING OF 1ST AMERICAN EDITION.  

[1]  Title Page is a cancel;

 

[2]  Title page has year 1884 on verso;

 

[3]  Heading for chapter 6 reads "Decided" (later corrected to "Decides") on page 9;

 

[4]  "Him and another man" listed incorrectly at page 88, on page (13) (SEE SCAN);

 

[5]  Page 57, 11 lines from end, text erroneously reads "with the was";

 

[6]  TABLECLOTH under the bust of Twain at frontis is clearly VISIBLE (SEE SCAN), and Heliotype Printing Co. imprint is present;

 

[7]  Signature mark 11 missing on page 161;

 

[8]  Page 283 is a cancel;

 

[9]  Final leaf is blank;

 

[10]  Page  143, the "l" is missing in the "Col" (near the illustration at the top of the text (SEE SCAN)); and,

 

[11]  The "5" in the page number of Page 155 is absent.

• OF NOTE, contemporary scholarly consensus holds that three of these points herein-above as highlighted in red are most critical (some bibliographers go so far as to argue those three points are conclusive, alone, of 1st issue status -- all of which THIS copy has).  These three points correspond to the red highlighted nos. 3-5 immediately above.

  TITLE DETAILS & BOOK CONDITION NOTES:  Charles Webster and Co., NY:  1885.  LARGE BOOK.  8vo; approx. 9" x7"  FIRST EDITION.  1st State of 1st Printing.  Fully bound -- all publisher original; NOT REBOUND in GREEN cloth covered boards.  Pictorially stamped in and lettered in GILT and black on front cover and spine.  Photogravure frontispiece portrait bust by Karl Gerhardt.  Frontis drawing by KEMBLE... w/ORIGINAL tissue guard (very lightly wrinkled).  Beige endpapers.  366pp.  Light brown topstain.  WITH 174 ILLUSTRATIONS by KEMBLE.   Leaves, including plates, largely in NICE condition; w/no writing; no tears; no bookplates; etc.   Board corners/spine ends rubbed/scuffed (board edges nice, however); very small (1/8") nick rear spine edge, short tear (3/8") spine top; approx. 1" wear along lower gutter; clean:  no external soiling apparent; few sm. puckers to front fabric (see scan, near Huck) and blind impression/a few lightened spots upper front corner; fading/color unevenness (i.e., spot lightening) to, along w/some general waviness, rear board.  PROFUSELY ILLUSTRATED.  Leaves/PLATES exhibit an uncommon lack of expected foxing.  Rear pastedown/facing blank some wrinkling and spotting (less to penultimate (see scan for this) facing blanks).  Also, some leaves (96-112) w/stray brown spots/marks (largely at edges); other select leaves w/very faint browning near gutter or along upper edge.  ALL POINTS.  1ST ISSUE TITLE *is* solid; square clean, complete; GILT bright to boards; leaves and textblock nice (as described); hinges good; etc.  Ref, e.g., 3415. Johnson, 43-50. MacDonnell, 29-35. McBride, 93. Grolier American 87.  RARE INDEED!

• Note, please, aware this is a very rare book w/potential investment value (of which condition is certainly a factor), we have endeavored to thoroughly relate its rare bibliographic state (and this is one of the more complex titles, issue-wise) condition via our description, pictures, etc.  We encourage questions as to condition (or anything else), and will do our vest best to respond graciously and appreciatively... and of course with candor.  WE ARE JUSTLY RENOWNED FOR OUR LIBERAL RETURN POLICIES, HOWEVER WE ALWAYS LIKE A PLEASED CUSTOMER UPFRONT, ONES WHOSE EXPECTATIONS HAVE BEEN MET!

1ST STATE, and IN ORIGINAL GREEN CLOTH COVERED GILT BOARDS --  **1ST/1ST/1ST.**  THIS TITLE AN ENGLISH LANGUAGE LITERARY MONUMENT -- IN ITS WAY, THE VERY DEFINITION OF A "CLASSIC."

　   
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It is by the goodness of God that in our country we have those three unspeakably precious things: freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and the prudence never to practice either.

-- Mark Twain, Following the Equator