Life On The Mississippi.

TWAIN, Mark [Samuel L. Clemens].

Item Number: 142673

Boston: James R. Osgood and Company, 1883.

First American edition, mixed state of this provocative portrait of the great Mississippi River with “The St. Louis Hotel” caption on p. 443 but tailpiece of Twain in flames on p. 441 removed. BAL describes this as First State, Intermediate B (A?) indicating the chronology of the two intermediate states is unknown. BAL 3411. Octavo, original publisher’s brown cloth stamped in gilt and black with gilt titles to the spine, illustrated. In near fine condition with light rubbing to the extremities.

An invaluable companion to The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Life on the Mississippi is Mark Twain's inimitable portrait of 'the great Father of Waters'. Part memoir, part travelogue, it expresses the full range of Twain's literary personality, and remains the most vivid, boisterous and provocative account of the cultural and societal history of the Mississippi Valley, from 'the golden age' of steamboating to the violence wrought by the Civil War.