Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, First American Edition, Later State, in Green Cloth, 1885

New York: Charles L. Webster and Company, 1885. First American edition with later state points, showing corrections. Octavo. Original green cloth boards, stamped in pictorial black and gilt. With 174 illustrations by Edward Kemble. 

This is a first American edition, later printing of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. The book was published in February 18, 1885 in New York by Charles L. Webster and Company. It is presented in its original gilt and black-stamped green cloth boards. The book has 174 illustrations by Edward Kemble and photographic portrait frontispiece of the bust of Mark Twain by Karl Gerhardt. 

Twain initially conceived the work as a sequel to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, intending to follow the character Huckleberry Finn through adulthood. Beginning with a few pages he had removed from the earlier novel, Twain began work on a manuscript he originally titled Huckleberry Finn's Autobiography. Twain worked on the manuscript off and on for the next several years, ultimately abandoning his original plan of following Huck's development into adulthood.

He lost interest in the manuscript and set it aside for several years. In the meantime, he finished and published three other books: A Tramp Abroad (1880), The Prince and the Pauper (1881), and Life on the Mississippi (1883). It may have been his trip down the Mississippi River in preparation for the writing of the latter that inspired him to complete Huckleberry Finn in 1883. Upon completion, the novel's title closely paralleled its predecessor's: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Tom Sawyer's Comrade). 

It was first published in England and Canada on December 12, 1884. Publication in the United States was delayed until February 18, 1885 due to a printer’s alteration of an illustration plate. Thirty thousand copies had already been printed, and a new plate had to be created to repair these copies and for all subsequent ones. Twain allowed the book to be excerpted in three installments in The Century Magazine between December, 1884, and February, 1885, even assisting with the editing for the excerpts. The first American edition was published by subscription through Twain’s own publishing house, Charles L. Webster and Company, which was run by his nephew, Charles Webster. The American first edition differs from the UK edition in several ways. The UK edition appeared in December 1884 in red cloth, while the American edition featured green (approx. 20,000) and blue cloth bindings (1 in 20, only by request of the subscriber), with a limited number bound in leather. 

From the moment of publication, 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, prompting Ernest 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.” Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has been called “the most praised and most condemned 19th-century American work of fiction” (Legacies of Genius, 47). 

CONDITION:

Very good condition. Octavo. Green cloth with gilt and black stamps and titles on front and spine. Shelf wear, some light evidence of previous water damage to back cover approximately 1 inch from spine, some surface scratches on back cover, light cloth wrinkles on front. Binding tight. Very light toning to endpapers, faint evidence of finger-soil to some margins, with bright interior pages. 174 illustrations by Kemble. 366pp.

This is a first edition, later printing, issued in the first year of publication. Points include: Later frontispiece of Twain bust with no cloth showing at base, Chapter VI table of contents “Huck Decides to Leave”, p.13 illustration on p. “87”, p. 57 “with the saw”, p. 155 last 5 larger, p. 161 no signature mark. Copyright shows 1884 while title page states 1885. 

Book Dimensions: 8 3/4” H x 7” W x 1 1/4” D. 

Accompanied by our company's letter of authenticity.