The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Twain, Mark
Bookseller: 19th Century Shop(Baltimore, MD, U.S.A.)
Price: US$ 25000.00 [Convert Currency]
Book Description: London: Chatto & Windus, 1876, 1876. Original red cloth. Light rubbing, small stain to lower board. Very good or better. Scarce in original condition. Half morocco case. FIRST EDITION, preceding the American edition by six months. This true first edition of Tom Sawyer is the scarcest of the major Twain first editions. The author planned a spring 1876 publication carefully coordinated between American and England in order to secure English copyright, which required first publication in England. Reviewing the book for Atlantic expecting a spring 1876 publication, William Dean Howells wrote, "The story is a wonderful study of the boy-mind, which inhabits a world quite distinct from that in which he is bodily present with his elders, and in this lies its great charm and universality, for boy nature, however human nature varies, is the same everywhere." Twain gratefully wrote to Howells that the review "It will embolden weak-kneed journalistic admirers to speak out, & will modify or shut up the unfriendly."But the American publisher failed to move expeditiously, and spring came and went. As summer was always a disastrous season for selling books by subscription, it was determined that publication should occur for the holiday season. In the meantime, publication in England had already been arranged, so Chatto & Windus in London brought the book out in June, while the American edition did not appear until December.This true first edition is a cornerstone of any American literature collection and is very scarce in collectible condition.
