The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

Hartford, CT: The American Publishing Company, 1876. First Edition. Very Good. First American edition, first printing, first issue of this cornerstone of American literature. 274, [2], [4, ads] pp. Printed on wove paper, versos of half-title and frontispiece blank. Bound in publisher's blue cloth covered boards stamped in black and gilt. Illustrated with a wood engraved frontispiece and wood engraved in-text illustrations by True Williams and others. Peach free endpapers, single fly leaf at front and three fly leaves at rear; laid paper. Very Good with slight lean to binding, cloth lightly worn and soiled, spine ends lightly frayed. Possibly recased with front and rear inner hinges worn, wear along fore-edge of early leaves, scattered soiling, spotting, creases and short edge-tears to contents, residue from removed sticker on pp. 113 and 237. BAL 3369; Johnson, pp. 27-30. "The irresponsibility, the love of odd adventure, and the sense of natural justice as opposed to the village code, which characterize the heroes of this book and its sequel Huckleberry Finn, presented a sharp contrast to the Sunday School or rags-to-riches literature which was then the common fare doled out to children... these books let fresh air into the minds of parents who had shut the door on their own childhood, and they will be classics the world over as long as there are boys." (Grolier). (Inventory #: 140947300)