17 18TWAIN, Mark. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Tom Sawyer’s Comrade). New York, 1885. Octavo, original pictorial green cloth, custom clamshell box. $22,000 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, with a card signed by Twain tipped in. Written over an eight-year period, Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn endured critical attacks from the moment of publication, standing accused of “bloodcurdling humor,” immorality, coarseness and profanity. The book nevertheless emerged as one of the defining novels of American literature, prompting Hemingway to declare: “All modern literature comes from one book by Mark Twain. It’s the best book we’ve had. All American writing comes from that. There was nothing before. There has been nothing since.” 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). Pages 283-84 is a cancel (illustration with straight pant-fly) as described by Johnson (p. 48) and MacDonnell (p. 32-33). BAL 3415. First half of text extremely clean, second half with only occasional mild soiling, notably less than usually seen; bright cloth with minor wear to corners and spine ends, publisher’s name at foot of spine a bit rubbed, gilt bright. A near-fine copy. “All Modern Literature Comes From One Book By Mark Twain. It’s The Best Book We’ve Had”
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