The Gilded Age: A Tale of To-Day.

TWAIN, Mark [Samuel Clemens] and Charles Dudley Warner.

$750.00

Item Number: 127448

Hartford: American Publishing Company, 1878.

Early printing of Twain and Dudley’s satirical work on greed and political corruption in post-Civil War America which has appeared in more than 100 editions since its original publication. Octavo, bound in three quarter morocco with gilt titles and tooling to the spine in six compartments within raised gilt bands, marbled endpapers, all edges marbled, fully illustrated from new designs by Hoppins, Stephens, Williams, White, et al. In very good condition. Bound for and from the library of Cecil C. Balfour, the younger brother of Arthur Balfour. British Conservative statesman Arthur Balfour served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1902 to 1905. As foreign secretary in the Lloyd George ministry, he issued the Balfour Declaration in 1917 on behalf of the cabinet. Subsequently, from the library of William Safire, although not marked. William Safire was an important American author, columnist, journalist, and presidential speechwriter. He joined Nixon’s campaign for the 1960 Presidential race, and again in 1968. After Nixon’s 1968 victory, Safire served as a speechwriter for him and Spiro Agnew. He authored several political columns in addition to his weekly column “On Language” in The New York Times Magazine from 1979 until the month of his death and authored two books on grammar and linguistics: The New Language of Politics (1968) and what Zimmer called Safire’s “magnum opus,” Safire’s Political Dictionary. Safire later served as a member of the Pulitzer Prize Board from 1995 to 2004 and in 2006 was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George W. Bush. In very good condition.

"The Gilded Age, a period of gross materialism and blatant political corruption in US history during the 1870s, gave rise to important novels of social and political criticism. The period takes its name from the earliest of these, The Gilded Age, written by Mark Twain in collaboration with Charles Dudley Warner. The novel gives a vivid and accurate description of Washington, DC and is peoples with caricatures of many leading figures of the day, including greedy industrialists and corrupt politicians" (Britannica).