LIFE ON THE MISSISSIPPI

Twain, Mark [Clemens, S. L.] LIFE ON THE MISSISSIPPI. New York: Charles L. Webster, 1891. First edition, intermediate state A (with Twain pictured in flames), the rare Webster issue. Original brown pictorial cloth, gilt. Spine gilt a little dull, mild rubbing, sampstain on rear cover, else a very good tight copy in the rarest form of issue. This copy has the green floral end papers that match A CONNECTICUT YANKEE rather than the plain gray end papers usually seen. The book was first published in 1883 by James R. Osgood who went bankrupt soon after. When Twain started his own publishing firm he put it in the hands of his nephew, Charles Webster. Webster acquired Osgood's inventory, including copies already in binding and unbound sheets, as well as the printing plates. He also acquired all of the brasses for stamping the bindings, and when he stamped the bindings used on the unbound sheets he simply changed the imprint at the foot of the spine. In 1888 and 1891, Webster issued more copies, and like Osgood before him went bankrupt soon after, leaving Twain with huge debts that took a decade to pay. Twain considered this work his masterpiece, and the first half of the book contains some of his most poetic prose about the subject he knew best and which served two years later as the setting for his greatest novel. "Chapter XXXI is a complete short story in itself and contains the first fictional use of fingerprints as a means of criminal identification."--Ellery Queen. BAL 3411 (notes this 1891 issue). Howes C 480.