Twain, Mark

The Innocents Abroad (Two Editions)

ISBN: 0195101324
Hartford, CT; New York, NY: American Publishing Company; Oxford University Press, 1880; 1996. Early Edition, First Trade Edition Thus. Hardcovers. Two collectible versions of an early-career classic travelogue by Samuel Langhorne Clemens a/k/a Mark Twain, the canonical American humorist & writer: (1) The Innocents Abroad, or The New Pilgrim's Progress, American Publishing Company's 1880 printing of the work it first published in 1869. Hardcover in black cloth with gilt lettering, decorations on front cover & spine; embossed decorations on back cover. As noted on title page, there are "Two Hundred and Thirty-Four Illustrations" throughout, & with the subtitle: "Being Some Account of the Steamship Quaker City's Pleasure Excursion to Europe and the Holy Land; with Descriptions of Countries, Nations, Incidents and Adventures, as they Appeared to the Author." Title page preceded by two illustrations on opposite pages, protected & divided by opaque rice paper. McBride's bibliography lists twenty-six editions printed between 1869 & 1902 in the Collection of the Mark Twain Memorial and the Stowe-Day Foundation in Hartford, Connecticut. This printing is not in the collection, the closest printing (also with "Black cloth") is from the previous year (1879), see pgs. 6-12, esp. pg. 9. We have seen no reference to a dust jacket having been issued with this edition, if so it is not present. (2) The Innocents Abroad, Oxford University Press, 1996. As stated in Editor's Note, "The Oxford Mark Twain consists of twenty-nine volumes of facsimiles of the first American editions of Mark Twain's works, with an editor's foreword, new introductions, afterwords, notes on the texts, and essays on the illustrations in volumes with artwork." This volume in the series reproduces the first edition published by APC in 1869 (the 1880 edition (1) above appears to contain all contents of the first edition except publisher's advertisements following the end). Edited by Shelley Fisher Fishkin, with introduction by Mordecai Richler & afterword by David E.E. Sloane. "In 1867, Mark Twain set out from New York City for Europe and the Holy Land on the paddle-steamer Quaker City. The result of that trip was The Innocents Abroad, a travel book unlike any that had gone before it. Irreverent and irrepressible, Twain pokes fun at officious tour guides and offensive tourists alike...The trip stimulates Twain to meditate on how the "new world" is different from the "old" and engenders reflections on what a society must be like to be thought of as genuinely "civilized." The Innocents Abroad is alternately profound and profoundly entertaining." (from front flap) Hardcover in unclipped dust jacket, first trade edition thus, first printing as indicated by number sequence on copyright page. Two desirable editions of one of the most acclaimed works in the immortal Mark Twain oeuvre; an antiquarian collectible from the original publisher in the substantially complete form of the original edition, & an Oxford facsimile thereof with helpful academic scholarship. (1) in relatively good-to-near-fine unrestored condition with mild-to-moderate rubbing to front, back covers & esp. spine; moderate-to-significant wear at edges & corners of same incl. light fraying & significant loss of cloth; small, glossy tar-like (but not sticky) stain near upper right corner of back cover; embossed design at middle of same (publisher's arms-logo) fading but still discernible; moderate rubbing & browning to edges of text block incl. mild fading & scratching of dyed upper edge of same. Interior fine with mild browning mostly at blank margins of page leaves; small, very quaint sticker of a Detroit, Michigan "Stationer" at lower right corner of front paste-down; vintage, appx. contemporary signature & hand-written place (Detroit again) of previous owner on blank front endpaper; stamp of "F.H. Drake & Co./ Publilsher's Agents/ Detroit, MIch." below printed copyright notice; binding slightly loosening at lower area of rear side-hinge but otherwise quite intact. (2) Book very fine with a bit of wear to edges & corners of front, back covers & spine; otherwise substantially mint inside & out. Dust jacket very fine with only slight rubbing to front, back covers & spine; a few tiny bumps & creases at edges & corners of same; tiny area at upper left spine-corner with loss of dark red surface. Good- Near Fine; Very Fine / Very Fine. [Item #4246]

Price: $100.00