This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 7/21/2022
CLEMENS, Samuel Langhorne (1835–1910) (“Mark Twain”). The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. New York: Charles L. Webster & Company, 1885. 8vo. Half–title, lithographic frontispiece by Edward Winsor Kemble, photographic frontispiece of bust depicting Mark Twain by Karl Gerhardt (BAL state 2), illustrations in–text. Contemporary sheep rebacked with new red and green morocco lettering–pieces gilt (some toning and offsetting to text, front free endpaper and Twain bust leaf backed with Japanese paper, contemporary inscription on first blank). FIRST AMERICAN EDITION, EARLY STATE with the following issue points: first state of p. 9 with “Decided” for “Decides”; first state of p. 13 with “Him and Another Man” illustration incorrectly listed as being on p. 88; first state of p. 57 with “was” for “saw”; letter “L” missing from “Col.” on p. 142; and curved fly on Sila Phelps’s trousers on p. 283. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was released in the United States in February 1885, nearly two months after its release in the UK and Canada. This delay was due to an “obnoxious” defacement on pg. 283 which, according to an advertisement posted by the book’s publisher (and Twain’s nephew), Charles L. Webster in the 29 November 1885 issue of The New York Herald, would have caused “Mr. Clemens’s credit for decency and morality [to have been] destroyed.” In this advertisement Webster offered a $500 reward for any information leading to the arrest and conviction of the offending party. In response to this defacement all renderings of Silas Phelps printed thereafter were altered to show a flat fly; this copy includes an original printing of the illustration with curved fly intact, marking this as one of the first copies of this page printed. IN THE RARE SHEEPSKIN BINDING. Of the four bindings of Huckleberry Finn that were issued, the sheep was considered to be the rarest, as it was particularly susceptible to wear with only 2,500 copies produced. BAL 3415; Johnson pp. 43–50; Grolier Club, One Hundred Influential Books pp. 117-118.