This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 10/20/2022
CLEMENS, Samuel Langhorne (“Mark Twain”) (1835–1910). The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. New York: Charles L. Webster and Company, 1885. 8vo (216 x 168 mm). Lithographic frontispiece by E. W. Kemble with tissue–guard, photographic portrait frontispiece of the bust of Mark Twain by Karl Gerhardt (BAL state 2), in–text illustrations throughout. Original publisher’s full speckled sheep, raised bands, red and black leather lettering–pieces gilt, gilt fillets in compartments (hinges discretely repaired, a small loss of the first compartment near head professionally repaired, corners gently rubbed). FIRST AMERICAN EDITION, EARLY ISSUE, IN THE DELUXE SHEEP BINDING, with the following issue points: the title leaf is either in the second or third state (first state only noted in the prospectus; no copy has ever been seen or reported); second state portrait frontispiece; first state of p. 9 with “Decided” for “Decides”; first state of p. 13 with “Him and Another Man” plate incorrectly listed as being on p. 88; first state of p. 57 with “was” for “saw”; third state of pagination on p. 155. Of the four bindings offered by the publisher (green cloth, blue cloth, sheep, and three–quarter morocco), the fewest surviving copies were bound in sheep (estimated at around 2500 copies) and are considered the “rarest binding” of those that were offered as these were the most susceptible to wear (Mac Donnell). BAL 3415; Grolier, 100 American, 87; Johnson, pp. 43–50; Mac Donnell Firsts, Vol. 8/No. 9, pp. 28–35; McBride, pp. 92–110.