CLEMENS, Samuel Langhorne. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer . Hartford: The American Publishing Company, 1876. Square 8 o . 4-page publisher's advertisement at end. Wood-engraved frontispiece and illustrations in text. (Some marginal soiling.) Original blue cloth, covers blocked in black and gilt, gilt-lettered on front cover and spine (reset in binding, repairs to endleaves and spine); half morocco slipcase. Provenance : Mr. Bartlett (presentation inscription); Walter Chrysler (bookplate). FIRST AMERICAN EDITION, FIRST PRINTING. PRESENTATION COPY, INSCRIBED BY CLEMENS on the front free endpaper: "To Mr. Barlett from the Author Oct. 1872." The recipient is possibly John Barlett, compiler of the invaluable Famous Quotations . Bartlett owned a bookshop in Cambridge, Mass. and had a number of mutual acquaintances with Clemens. In 1878, Bartlett became senior partner of Little, Brown & Co. "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). INSCRIBED COPIES OF 'TOM SAWYER' ARE VERY RARE, with none appearing in American Book-Prices Current in at least thirty years. BAL 3369; Grolier American 79; Johnson High Spots 23; Peter Parley to Penrod , pp. 43-44.
CLEMENS, Samuel Langhorne. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer . Hartford: The American Publishing Company, 1876. Square 8 o . 4-page publisher's advertisement at end. Wood-engraved frontispiece and illustrations in text. (Some marginal soiling.) Original blue cloth, covers blocked in black and gilt, gilt-lettered on front cover and spine (reset in binding, repairs to endleaves and spine); half morocco slipcase. Provenance : Mr. Bartlett (presentation inscription); Walter Chrysler (bookplate). FIRST AMERICAN EDITION, FIRST PRINTING. PRESENTATION COPY, INSCRIBED BY CLEMENS on the front free endpaper: "To Mr. Barlett from the Author Oct. 1872." The recipient is possibly John Barlett, compiler of the invaluable Famous Quotations . Bartlett owned a bookshop in Cambridge, Mass. and had a number of mutual acquaintances with Clemens. In 1878, Bartlett became senior partner of Little, Brown & Co. "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). INSCRIBED COPIES OF 'TOM SAWYER' ARE VERY RARE, with none appearing in American Book-Prices Current in at least thirty years. BAL 3369; Grolier American 79; Johnson High Spots 23; Peter Parley to Penrod , pp. 43-44.
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.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
