A Tramp Abroad.

First edition of Twain’s classic fictionalized account of his walking tour of central and southern Europe, inscribed by him to his secretary. Octavo, original publisher’s pictorial gilt-stamped brown cloth, with 328 illustrations by Walter Francis Brown, True Williams, W.W. Denslow, and with four ‘pictures made by the author of this book, without outside help’, engraved portrait of Twain by J.A.J. Wilcox [BAL state B, no priority], engraved frontispiece captioned ”Titian’s Moses” [BAL’s second state], profusion of illustrations; advertisement for The Innocents Abroad on p. 632. Association copy, inscribed by the author on the front pastedown, “Truly yours, Mark Twain.” With an additional inscription below, also in Twain’s hand: “The property of Miss I.V. Lyon.” The recipient, Isabel Van Kleek Lyons played a pivotal role in Twain’s later years, serving as his private secretary, household manager, and confidante after the death of his wife, Olivia, in 1904. Twain was deeply reliant on Lyons, once remarking, “Miss Lyon runs Clara, and Jean, and me, and the servants, and the housekeeping, and the house building, and the secretary work, and remains as extraordinarily as competent as ever.” Lyons, for her part, revered Twain, referring to him as “the King” in her diary, while Twain called her “The Lioness.” Their relationship grew so close that rumors of romantic intentions surfaced, though Twain, in later writings, fiercely denied any affection beyond professional reliance, “Miss Lyon compares with her [Livy] as a buzzard compares with a dove. (I say this with apologies to the buzzard),” he wrote in a blistering private letter. Ultimately, Twain and his surviving daughter turned against Lyons amidst accusations of manipulation and theft, culminating in a lengthy, scathing 429-page manuscript Twain composed but suppressed during his lifetime, indicting her as “a liar, a forger, a thief, a hypocrite, a drunkard, a sneak, a humbug, a traitor, a conspirator.” The complexities of Lyons’s legacy, as the woman Twain claimed to know “most intimately in all the world — with the exception of his wife, Livy,” remain the subject of current debate. Provenance: Isabel V. Lyon (1863-1958), Twain’s secretary (presentation inscription); R.J. Rebman (penciled signature and note on front free endpaper). An exceptional association of Twain’s satire of European customs and manners. The narrative technique and style of this work is thought to have influenced Huckleberry Finn (which Twain was in fact in the middle of writing when he took the European adventure which inspired A Tramp Abroad). It sold over 60,000 copies in its first year of publication, and it remained Twain’s best-selling book until his death thirty years later. BAL 3386; Johnson, pp.33-35. In very good condition. Housed in a custom clamshell box.