Mark Twain’s (Burlesque) Autobiography and First Romance.

TWAIN, Mark. [Samuel L. Clemens].

$200.00

Item Number: 138264

New York: Sheldon & Company, n.d.

First edition, second issue of Twain’s third book with the Ball, Black, & Co. advertisement on verso of the title page (BAL 3326). Octavo, bound in three quarters morocco over marbled boards, gilt titles to the spine, illustrated and extra-illustrated with a tissue-guarded engraved frontispiece of Twain. In good condition.

Mark Twain's (Burlesque) Autobiography and First Romance contains two short stories: "A Burlesque Autobiography", which first appeared in Twain's ten-page Memoranda contributions to Galaxy Magazine, and "First Romance", which initially appeared in The Express in 1870. The two stories bear no actual relationship to Twain's life, but rather present fictional characters that are supposedly part of his lineage. The illustrations throughout both stories have no relationship to the text, but are cartoons that illustrate the children's poem The House that Jack Built, a social commentary the Erie Railroad Ring and its participants, Jay Gould, John T. Hoffman, and Jim Fisk.