ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER by Twain Mark - 1876

Hartford: The American Publishing Co., 1876. First Edition, BAL’s early state “A” with illustration on verso of half-title and xvi foliated, with mis-paginations as called for. Both this and the first issue were released on the same day of publication in equal numbers. With one-hundred and sixty black and white illustrations of such memorable as Injun Joe, Aunt Polly, Becky Thatcher, and of course Tom Sawyer. 8vo, publisher’s original blue cloth elaborately decorated in gilt and black on the covers and spine, blue cloth covered slipcase included to protect the volume. [i-xii], with [ix, x, xii mispaged xii, xiii, and xvi as called for], [17], 18-274 [-276], [4] ads pp. A very handsome copy in a pleasing state of preservation, the text-block is very clean and unusually well preserved, the binding with only very light evidence of edge-wear or shelving, the tips skillfully consolidated and expertly tended to in very sympathetic fashion. A very nice, bright and pleasing copy of an iconic and cornerstone American literary work. FIRST EDITION IN THE ORIGINAL CLOTH. A HANDSOME AND PLEASING COPY OF THIS GREAT AMERICAN LANDMARK, it is the first novel in which the hero is a boy and the boy is the hero throughout. TOM SAWYER is now thought to be, along with HUCKLEBERRY FINN, one of the great stepping stones to the modern American novel. It, like Whitman’s LEAVES OF GRASS and Melville’s MOBY DICK, typifies and describes the American spirit. It lies at that very special moment in history when America, having challenged its past sets off on the new adventures that will force it into the coming century and the great expansion of its democratic spirit. To this day, it remains a cornerstone of American literature.