“IT IS AN HONEST TOWN ONCE MORE…”

TWAIN, Mark. The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg and Other Stories and Essays. New York and London: Harper &Brothers, 1900. Octavo, original red cloth gilt. $950.

First edition, with eight stories (the title tale among them) appearing for the first time in book form here.

“The title story, a depiction of the universality of hypocrisy, has been acclaimed the author’s masterpiece” (Johnson, 71); indeed, “with its resonant echoes of Dante and Milton, its narrative economy and its ironic vitality, ‘The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg’ ranks among the finest of Mark Twain’s short stories” (LeMaster & Wilson, 486). Illustrated with 11 plates, including tissue-guarded frontispiece portrait and one in-text illustration. First state, with sheets bulking at about 1-1/16 inches and plate opposite page 2 with caption and the line “[Page 2.” BAL 3459.

Interior fine, cloth with a bit of rubbing and toning to spine. A near-fine copy.