LIFE ON THE MISSISSIPPI by TWAIN, Mark - 1883

Boston: Osgood, 1883. First Edition, Intermediate State B.(Without the cremation scene on p. 441 and p. 443 'St. Louis Hotel'). 8vo, pp. 624. Illustrated with 300 illustrations. Original publisher's brown cloth stamped in black and gilt, (little rubbed at the extremities of the spine). Paper cracked on the rear hinge, but a VG copy. BAL 3411. This seems to be the rarest of the 4 first edition issues of this book. The story is that when Mrs. Clemens saw the image of the author's ashes in an urn on page 441, she demanded that it be removed and it was. At the same time, the caption of the St Charles Hotel was corrected on page 443. So the first edition is seen in four separate issues. With the urn on page 441 and the caption "St Louis Hotel" on page 443 and then mixed states with and without the urn and the captions of both the St Louis Hotel and the St Charles hotel. This is Blanck's "intermediate B" without the urn but the uncorrected "St Louis Hotel" on page 443.