Roughing It.

TWAIN, Mark [Samuel L. Clemens].

$1,200.00

Item Number: 127994

Hartford, Connecticut: American Publishing Company, 1872.

First edition, mixed state of Twain’s first semi-autobiographical work of travel literature, essentially a prequel to The Innocents Abroad, lacking the word ‘he’ on page 242 but with the advert present on page 592 (BAL 3337). Octavo, bound in three quarter morocco with gilt titles and tooling to the spine in six compartments within raised gilt bands, marbled endpapers, top edge gilt, fully illustrated by eminent artists with wood engravings throughout. From the library of William Safire with his bookplate to the pastedown. 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.

Dedicated to Twain's mining companion Calvin H. Higbie, Roughing It follows the travels of young Mark Twain through the Wild West during the years 1861–1867. After a brief stint as a Confederate cavalry militiaman, Twain joined his brother Orion on a stagecoach journey west. The book also chronicles many of Twain's other early adventures including a visit to Salt Lake City, gold and silver prospecting, real-estate speculation, a journey to Hawaii, and his beginnings as a writer.