first edition
1888
by (Twain, Mark)
1888. Illustrated by E.W. Kemble. New York: Charles L. Webster & Company, 1888. Original brown cloth pictorially decorated in black.
First American Edition, first issue of this 700-page compendium of humor that was conceived of (and financed) by Twain -- who drafted a list of contents and contributed the "Compiler's Apology," but otherwise did little (the twenty Twain sketches had already otherwise appeared in print). The volume includes pieces (some for the first time) by such other writers as Ambrose Bierce, Robert J. Burdette, Joel Chandler Harris, Bret Harte, James Russell Lowell, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Artemus Ward and Charles Dudley Warner. The anonymous co-editors were William Dean Howells and especially Hartford newspaperman Charles Hopkins Clark, who did much of the actual work. The first issue, as here, has the "Index of Titles" arranged by appearance in the book, and erroneously credits "Warm Hair" on p. 8 to Twain; the second issue has that index arranged alphabetically and removes the p. 8 credit. (Twain denied authorship of "Warm Hair," but a manuscript of it in his hand does exist.) This copy is in brown cloth; some are in olive-green (no precedence). This is a bright, near-fine copy -- there is minor cracking of the front endpaper (as usual with this hefty book), and a couple of gatherings stand slightly proud. Blanck 3425 (also see 1982); McBride p. 122. (Inventory #: 15663)
First American Edition, first issue of this 700-page compendium of humor that was conceived of (and financed) by Twain -- who drafted a list of contents and contributed the "Compiler's Apology," but otherwise did little (the twenty Twain sketches had already otherwise appeared in print). The volume includes pieces (some for the first time) by such other writers as Ambrose Bierce, Robert J. Burdette, Joel Chandler Harris, Bret Harte, James Russell Lowell, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Artemus Ward and Charles Dudley Warner. The anonymous co-editors were William Dean Howells and especially Hartford newspaperman Charles Hopkins Clark, who did much of the actual work. The first issue, as here, has the "Index of Titles" arranged by appearance in the book, and erroneously credits "Warm Hair" on p. 8 to Twain; the second issue has that index arranged alphabetically and removes the p. 8 credit. (Twain denied authorship of "Warm Hair," but a manuscript of it in his hand does exist.) This copy is in brown cloth; some are in olive-green (no precedence). This is a bright, near-fine copy -- there is minor cracking of the front endpaper (as usual with this hefty book), and a couple of gatherings stand slightly proud. Blanck 3425 (also see 1982); McBride p. 122. (Inventory #: 15663)
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