Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Tom Sawyer’s Comrade).

TWAIN, Mark. [Samuel Clemens].

Item Number: 123228

New York: Charles L. Webster and Company, 1885.

First edition, first issue of Mark Twain’s masterpiece. Octavo, original publisher’s decorated green cloth, with 174 illustrations by Edward W. Kemble. With all of the agreed upon first issue points for the clothbound book: page 9 with “Decided” remaining uncorrected (to “Decides”); page 13, illustration captioned “Him and another Man” listed as on page 88; page 57, 11th line from bottom reads “with the was,” instead of “with the saw”. Other points of bibliographical interest included in this copy are the frontispiece portrait with the tablecloth under the bust, bearing the Heliotype Printing Co. imprint; copyright page dated 1884;  page 143 with “l” missing from “Col.” at top of illustration and with broken “b” in “body” on line seven; page 155 with a larger final “5”; page 161, no signature mark “11”. As to issue points resulting from damaged plates (e.g. the dropped “5” on p 155), MacDonnell concludes, “they are of no significance in determining the sequence of the printing of the sheets. All of these occur at random in relation to each other within copies of the first printing, a strong indicator of the use of multiple plates, and possibly mixed sheets within the collating process” (“Huck Finn” Firsts Magazine). In very good condition with the gilt to the spine bright. Bookplate to the pastedown.

Written over an eight-year period, Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was controversial from the outset, attacked by critics for its crudeness, coarseness and vulgarity. Upon issue of the American edition in 1885, several libraries, including the Concord and Brooklyn Public Libraries, banned it from their shelves. Twain later remarked to his editor, "Apparently, the Concord library has condemned Huck as 'trash and only suitable for the slums.' This will sell us another twenty-five thousand copies for sure!" The book nevertheless emerged as one of the defining novels of American literature, prompting Hemingway to declare: "All modern literature comes from one book by Mark Twain. It's the best book we've had. All American writing comes from that. There was nothing before. There has been nothing since."