Twain, Mark

1601 (Three Editions)

ISBN: 0517146622;01951016
New York, NY; n/p: Lyle Stuart; Land's End Press; Oxford University Press, n/d; 1969; 1996. First Editions Thus. Hardcovers. Three versions of a risqué satire of Elizabethan-era conversation by Samuel Langhorne Clemens a/k/a Mark Twain (1835-1910), the canonical American humorist & author. First published anonymously in 1881, we offer three later editions of this work: (1) 1601...Conversation as it was by the Social Fireside in the Time of the Tudors, privately printed for Lyle Stuart, "Embellished With an Illuminating Introduction, Facetious Footnotes and a Bibliography by Franklin J. Meine." Hardcover in slipcase. A handsome production with Meine's (indeed scholarly) introduction, text in modern & original pseudo-Elizabethan formats, extensive bibliography. There is no date referred to on title or copyright page, though Meine's introduction is dated December 25, 1938 at Chicago (published in New York per title page). Label affixed to front panel of slipcase refers to this as "A Special Collector's Limited Edition," though no limitation or colophon is present. According to McBride, this was a circa 1961 reprint of a 1939 edition which was privately printed for the Mark Twain Society (pgs. 68-69). (2) '1601': A Tudor Fireside Conversation As Written by the Ingenious, Virtuous and learned Mark Twain, wit," published by Land's End Press, copyrighted 1969, no place reference. Large-format hardcover in unclipped dust jacket, with the original text printed in modern fonts & "Embellished (i.e. illustrated) by the worthy Alan Odle." First edition thus, possible first printing although there is an ISBN number on otherwise blank rear cover of dust jacket only, not on copyright page. ISBN was introduced during 1970, to the best of our knowledge. A delightfully bawdy production, especially Odle's scurrilous illustrations. (3)1601, and Is Shakespeare Dead?, 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 anonymous printing of Date 1601, Conversation, as it was by the Social Fireside from 1881; & the first edition of Is Shakespeare Dead? from 1909 (McBride, pg. 233). Edited by Shelley Fisher Fishkin, with an introduction by the appropriately lascivious author Erica Jong & afterword by Lesile A. Fiedler. "1601...is a hilarious ribald send-up of Elizabethan England in which Queen Elizabeth, Shakespeare, Ben Johnson, Sir Walter Raleigh, and other luminaries of the period are pictured sitting about the fireplace amusing one another with risqué tales...If "in 1601 Twain both parodied and paid homage to Shakespeare's liberating bawdry," Erica Jong observes in her introduction, in "Is Shakespeare Dead? he tried to come to terms with his conflicting responses to Shakespeare as mentor and muse." Jong suggests that Twain's real concern in this book may well be his own "place in literary history." " (from front flap) Hardcover in unclipped dust jacket, first trade edition thus, first printing as indicated by number sequence on copyright page. Three desirable editions of Twain's notoriously humorous satirical work, two with helpful academic scholarship & one with an additional, very late extended essay. (1) book in very fine condition with only a tiny bit of wear at edges & corners of front, back covers & spine; mild browning & light spotting to edges of text block; otherwise substantially mint inside & out. Slipcase only fair with many small holes exposing red surface, light rubbing & moderate browning, spotting to front pasted sheet; less but still extensive small holes at blank red back board exposing subsurface; mild wear at edges & corners. (2) Book very fine with only slight wear to edges & corners of front, back covers & spine; several tiny spots at blank red area of front cover; light browning & spotting to edges of text block. Interior very fine with only small area of sticker residue with very slight loss of surface near upper right corner of blank front endpaper; tiny bumps at corners of a few page leaves. Dust jacket good-to-near-fine with mild rubbing, browning & light, faint scratching, creasing to front, back covers, spine & flaps; a few thin vertical wrinkles resulting from detaching of laminate at blank (except for ISBN) back cover, front flap; more pronounced at blank rear flap. (3) book very fine with only a small, shallow scratch ending in pinhole-gauge at lower edge of text block, resulting in tiny bumps at lower edges of a few page leaves; otherwise substantially mint inside & out. Dust jacket very fine with only very slight rubbing to front, back covers & spine; a few tiny bumps, creases at thin edges & corners of same; several tiny spots at blank margin of front cover near lower right corner. Very Fine / (Slipcase) Fair; Good to Near Fine; Very Fine. [Item #4426]

Price: $75.00