Samuel Clemens First Edition Archives - Raptis Rare Books | Fine Rare and Antiquarian First Edition Books for Sale

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 ...

Price: $65,000.00 Item Number: 133018

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"It's the best book we've had... There was nothing before. There has been nothing since": FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE OF MARK TWAIN'S ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN; IN EXCEPTIONAL CONDITION

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 Mark Twain’s masterpiece, a justifiable contender for the title of "the Great American Novel" and arguably "the most praised and most condemned 19th-century American work of fiction" (Legacies of Genius, 47). Octavo, original publisher’s gilt and black stamped pictorial green cloth, with 174 illustrations by Edward W. Kemble. Contains 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 in first state with the cloth table cover 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 the...

Price: $28,000.00 Item Number: 149190

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ONE OF ONLY A HANDFUL OF THE EARLIEST POSSIBLE ISSUE: FIRST EDITION, EARLIEST POSSIBLE ISSUE OF MARK TWAIN'S ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN; IN EXCEPTIONAL CONDITION

TWAIN, Mark. [Samuel L. Clemens].

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Tom Sawyer’s Comrade).

New York: Charles L. Webster and Company, 1885.

First edition, earliest possible issue confirmed by a contemporary 1884 gift inscription of Mark Twain’s masterpiece, a justifiable contender for the title of "the Great American Novel" and arguably "the most praised and most condemned 19th-century American work of fiction" (Legacies of Genius, 47). Octavo, original publisher’s gilt and black stamped pictorial green cloth, with 174 illustrations by Edward W. Kemble. Contains 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 in first state with the cloth table cover 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 dete...

Price: $22,500.00 Item Number: 149950

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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 mixe...

Price: $9,500.00 Item Number: 127896

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“You cannot surprise an individual more than twice with the same marvel": First Edition, first state of Mark Twain’s Life On The Mississippi in the publisher's original full sheep

TWAIN, Mark [Samuel L. Clemens].

Life On The Mississippi.

Boston: James R. Osgood and Company, 1883.

First American edition, first state of this provocative portrait of the great Mississippi River with tailpiece of Twain in flames on p. 441 and “The St. Louis Hotel” caption on p. 443. Octavo, original publisher's deluxe full sheep with morocco spine labels lettered in gilt, marbled endpapers, all edges marbled, illustrated. In very good condition, rebacked. Uncommon.

Price: $2,500.00 Item Number: 142314

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"THE MOST PRAISED AND MOST CONDEMNED 19TH-CENTURY AMERICAN WORK OF FICTION": FIRST ENGLISH EDITION OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN, PRECEDING THE FIRST AMERICAN EDITION

MARK TWAIN; [SAMUEL L. CLEMENS],.

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Tom Sawyer’s Comrade).

London: Chatto & Windus, 1884.

First English edition, preceding the first American edition, of "the most praised and most condemned 19th-century American work of fiction" (Legacies of Genius). Octavo, original decorative red cloth stamped in black and lettered in gilt, patterned endpapers, illustrated from 174 drawings by E. W. Kemble. Binding was originally in BAL's state "B", with the gatherings secured with wire staples; this copy has been recased, presumably in the original cloth with the wire staples removed and replaced with the more conventional thread. Additionally, cloth has been expertly restored, especially at the spine tips and corners, with some red bleeding to the top corner of the front pastedown. BAL states priority between the two binding states unknown. Ads at rear dated October 1884. BAL 3414. The English edition of Huckleberry Finn preceded the American by a few months and was made from sheets sent by American edition publisher Webster. In very good condition.

Price: $2,250.00 Item Number: 146372

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First edition of Mark Twain's What Is Man?

TWAIN, Mark. [Samuel L. Clemens].

What Is Man?

London: Watts & Co, 1910.

First trade edition of this uncommon Twain title. Octavo, original cloth. From the library of leading Twain authority and publisher John Gerber with his bookplate to the pastedown. Gerber served as head of the English Department at the University of Iowa for many years following the end of World War II when American literature was beginning to replace the role of English literature in American schools and colleges. Gerber was instrumental in the publication of a new uniform edition of Mark Twain's works, which was finally published as the Iowa-California edition of the Works of Mark Twain beginning in 1972, after several years frustrations including challenges from the MLA and United States government. What Is Man? was first published anonymously in a private edition of 250 copies in 1906. This edition, published months before his death, reveals Twain's authorship for the first time. BAL In very good condition.

Price: $475.00 Item Number: 137544

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