THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER by Twain, Mark - 1876

Hartford, Connecticut: The American Publishing Company, 1876. 275 pages + 4 pages of publisher's catalog. The second printing of the first edition--issue A, printed on laid paper, with frontispiece printed on verso of half-title page and first page of contents on verso of preface. Publisher's catalogue "Revised December 1st, 1876". This second printing was published on the same day as the first printing. Bound in the original blue cloth covers decorated in gilt and black. Profusely illustrated with 162 wood engravings, 160 of them by True Williams, whose drawings for the book were approvingly called "rattling pictures" by Twain. Seven of the illustrations are neatly hand-colored; the coloring is subtle and appropriate--so much so that at first I had come across a rare copy with original professional hand-coloring. But, alas, not so. The book is clean and tight; the cloth and its decoration are very bright--some minor color leaching on the front cover. On the front free endpaper is the signature of Lucretia C. Lennig, with her Philadelphia address and the date, April 1877. Lennig was a Mayflower Descendant, a Magna Charta Dame, and a Daughter of the Cincinnati--as well as the owner of this book. On the whole, a very attractive copy of this landmark of American literature.. First Edition. Hardcover. Collectible-Very Good+. Illus. by True Williams. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. Book.