LIBER SCRIPTORUM. THE FIRST BOOK OF THE AUTHORS CLUB

New York: The Authors Club, 1893. First Edition. Hardcover. Bar Association Library ink stamp on the title page with an ink number on the copyright page; two other apparently nonrelated small ink stamps on the rear endpaper and pastedown. Rebacked some time ago with nearly all of the original spine laid down and the hinges reinforced with tape. Some rubbing to the binding. Contents clean and in overall Very Good condition. Thick folio (10" x 13") in publisher's full dark brown morocco leather with ornately blind- and gilt-tooled spines and boards, top edge gilt, uncut. Copy #96 of only 251 copies SIGNED by each of the 109 contributors, all noted American authors of the time, the most prominent being Mark Twain ("The Californian's Tale," the first appearance in print of this story), Theodore Roosevelt ("A Shot at a Bull Elk,"), and Andrew Carnegie ("Genius Illustrated from Burns"). This book was created as a means to raise money for a permanent home for the Author's Club, organized in 1882. Each member contributed an original essay, story, or poem that was intended never to be published elsewhere (Twain's story was included in THE $30,000 BEQUEST in 1906). The book was printed by club member Theodore Low De Vinne on hand-made paper with wood-block engravings and fine typography. It sold for $100, more than $2000 in today's currency. Other contributors include William Dean Howells, Henry Van Dyke, John Hay, Percival Lowell, Charles Warner, F. Hopkinson Smith, Will Carleton, and Frank R. Stockton. BAL 3438. In his bibliography of Mark Twain, Merle Johnson notes that though "there are presumed to be 251 copies of the book; actually, over 30 of these were not bound but were sold as separate articles." Many copies have also been broken up over the years so that the autographs could be sold separately. Most intact copies now reside in institutions. Early bookplate dated 25 April 1894 presenting the book to The Library of the Bar Association of New York by Albert Mathews, Esq.