Following the Equator: A Journey Around the World.

TWAIN, Mark. [Samuel L. Clemens].

$1,250.00

Item Number: 146301

Hartford, Connecticut: The American Publishing Company, 1897.

First edition, first issue of the author’s pointed social critique of British Imperialism with the signature mark “11” on page 161. Octavo, bound in three quarter crushed levant navy morocco with gilt titles and tooling to the spine in six compartments within raised gilt bands, marbled endpapers, top edge gilt, ribbon bound in, tissue-guarded frontispiece portrait of Twain, illustrated by Dan Beard, A. B. Frost, B.W. Clinedisnt, and Frederick Dielman among others. In near fine condition.

Mark Twain toured the British Empire in 1895, during which time he began concocting a travelogue about the experience that was published in 1897. Twain’s narrative spans the globe, from Australia to Hawaii. Full of tall-tales and real-life criticisms of imperialist arrogance, it is written with Twain’s characteristic wit and enthusiasm for a good, entertaining story. Following the Equator was Twain’s last travel book, and “also his most serious… He relates the narrative as himself… The serious tone in some ways makes this is best travel narrative” (MacDonnell, 53).