Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Tom Sawyer's Comrade)

New York: Charles L. Webster And Company, 1885. First Edition. First Printing Very good+ in the publisher's original decorated green cloth covered boards with a gilt on black title block and gilt text on the spine and gilt and black decorations and text on the front board. An octavo of 8 1/2 by 6 1/2 inches with the cloth at the head and heel of the spine worn down to the edged of the text block (with professional repairs made to these flaws with cloth inserted and colored to match the original backstrip). The front and rear hinges were beginning to crack, but have both been professionally reinforced. The text block is tight and complete with no foxing, tanning or soiling. This volume is a first printing mixed state of the first edition as the title-leaf, with an 1884 copyright date, is not a cancel indicating a third state. On page [9] under "Chapter VI" the reading is "Huck Decided to Leave." On page 13 the illustration "Him and Another Man" is listed as being on page 88 where in this case the illustration appears on page 87 (first state). The 11th line from the bottom of page 57 reads "with the was" (first state). The final number 5 on page 155 appears as a larger numeral than the first two numbers (third state). And, finally page 161 lacks the signature mark (first state). The tipped-in frontispiece, by the Heliotype Printing Co., bust of Twain shows the drape over the pedestal, but that fact has no relation to any printing. Considered to be Mark Twain's masterpiece and for generations known as a true American classic this is a very pleasing copy without the typical damage seen in so many worn-out bindings. (BAL 3415; MacDonnell, Firsts Magazine Sept. 1998; Peter Parley to Penrod, pp. 75-76; McBride, pp. 92-121)