L i t e r a t u r e 24 “All Modern Literature Comes From One Book By Mark Twain. It’s The Best Book We’ve Had” (Hemingway) 23. TWAIN, Mark. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Tom Sawyer’s Comrade). New York, 1885. Octavo, original gilt- and black-stamped pictorial green cloth, custom clamshell box. $22,500. First edition, first issue, of “the most praised and most condemned 19th-century American work of fiction” (Legacies of Genius, 47), with 174 illustrations by Edward Kemble. Written over an eight-year period, Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn endured critical attacks, standing accused of “blood-curdling humor,” immorality, coarseness and profanity. The book nevertheless emerged as one of the defining novels of American literature. This copy has all of the commonly identified first-issue points (the printer assembled copies haphazardly; bibliographers do not yet agree as to the priority of many points). First-issue points: page [9] with “Decided” remaining uncorrected (to “Decides”); page [13], illustration captioned “Him and another Man” listed as on page 88; page 57, 11th line from bottom reads “with the was.” Debate continues over the priority of other points of issue and state. BAL 3415. MacDonnell, 29-35. Owner ink signature; bookseller label. Occasional light foxing, especially to first few and last few leaves, expert reinforcement to inner paper hinges, very minor rubbing to spine ends, cloth clean and fresh, gilt exceptionally bright. A beautiful copy.
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