Beschreibung:

CLEMENS, SAMUEL LANGHORNE ("Mark Twain"). The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, And Other Sketches. By Mark Twain. New York: C.H. Webb 1867. 12mo, original terra-cotta cloth, the frog, in gilt, is in the lower left part of the front cover, rebacked with nearly all of original spine laid down, three fore-corners recapped, new endpapers, a signature loose, light (mostly marginal) dampstaining to title and a number of leaves, tiny marginal puncture holes in pages 193-194, half morocco slipcase. FIRST EDITION, FIRST PRINTING, OF THE AUTHOR'S FIRST BOOK, PRESENTATION COPY, inscribed by Clemens on the blank recto of the cream-yellow advertisement leaf (printed ads are on verso) before title-page: "With Compliments of Mark Twain. New York, May 9, 1867" (the upper 1 1/2 inches of this leaf -- undoubtedly bearing the name of the recipient of Twain's inscription -- have been torn away and this piece has been replaced with a matching section, with printed ads on verso, from the advertisement leaf of another copy ). BAL 3310; Johnson/ Clemens , p. 3; Zamorano 80, no. 17. The Celebrated Jumping Frog was announced as published on 25 April (in the New York Times ); the inscription on the copy Clemens presented to his mother was dated 1 May; Merle Johnson notes "two copies...with the date May 10, 1867, inscribed on the flyleaf and a presentation copy from the author...dated May 1867." Copies of the book bearing early presentation inscriptions by Twain (such as this) are extremely rare (perhaps no more than a handful being known).