Sold for $3,493

Hartford, Conn, etc.: The American Publishing Company, 1876. First American edition, first printing (printed on wove paper, versos of half-title and frontispiece blank). Square 8vo. 274, (2), (4, ads) pp. Illustrated with a wood engraved frontispiece and wood engraved in-text illustrations by True Williams and others. Publisher's blue cloth-covered boards, stamped in black and in gilt, slightly cocked, rubbing to joints and extremities, corners moderately worn, spine lightly worn, spine ends slightly frayed, boards lightly soiled; all edges trimmed; peach free endpapers; single flyleaf at front, three flyleaves at rear, laid paper; possibly recased; front and rear hinges worn; wear along fore-edge of prelims and some text at front, especially pp. (XV)/XVI; scattered soiling and spotting to text; intermittent creasing to top corners; scattered small short closed tears along edges; residue from removed sticker on pp. 113 and 237. BAL 3369; Johnson, pp. 27-30; Grolier 100 American 79; Peter Parley to Penrod 43.

First edition, first issue of Mark Twain's classic tale of childhood, a cornerstone of American literature. "The irresponsibility, the love of odd adventure, and the sense of natural justice as opposed to the village code, which characterize the heroes of this book and its sequel Huckleberry Finn, presented a sharp contrast to the Sunday School or rags-to-riches literature which was then the common fare doled out to children... these books let fresh air into the minds of parents who had shut the door on their own childhood, and they will be classics the world over as long as there are boys." (Grolier)