1885 – Adventures of Huckleberry Finn – Mark Twain | First Printing in Original Green Cloth

Mark Twain’s “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” was first published in 1885 and has been the source of literary and social controversy ever since. By many metrics, “Huck Finn” is one of, if not the most popular American novels and this particular example is of the utmost rarity: this example features the “missing 5” edition point, only found in the very earliest of print runs.   Bibliographic Details Title: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Tom Sawyer’s Comrade) Author(s): Samuel Langhorne Clemens (Mark Twain) Illustrator(s): Edward Windsor Kemble Publisher: New York, Charles L. Webster and Company Edition: First American Edition, First Printing, 1885. title leaf is conjugate, with the copyright notice dated 1884 frontispiece – portrait has imprint of Heliotype Printing Co p. 9 – “Huck Decided” (later corrected to “Huck decides”) p.13 – p. 88 illustration captioned “Him and Another man” – first state point (should be p.87) p. 57, 11th line from bottom – “with the was” (uncorrected) p. 143 – “l” missing from “Col.” p. 155 – final ‘5’ lacking completely (exceedingly rare find) p. 161, no signature mark p. 283 – a cancel; engraving redone fly on Silas Phelp’s pants a straight vertical line Format: Octavo, single volume Binding: Publisher’s original green cloth Size:  8.75 in x 7 in (22 cm x 18 cm) Collation: 366 pp Illustrations: Numerous in-text illustrations; frontispiece portrait with Heliotype imprint, tablecloth not visible Contents Include: Full original text Illustrations by E. W. Kemble throughout Notice, explanatory, and prefatory sections Reference(s): BAL 3415; Grolier 100 American, no. 87   Condition: Bound in green cloth with black stamping and gilt titling to spine and upper cover. Wear consistent with age is visible on the edges and corners. Spine and prelims pulling from the text block. Pages clean with only a few showing foxing at all.   Why Collect This? Earliest printing confirmed through all first and early state points – including the “missing 5” Original publishers cloth binding intact Referenced by both BAL and Grolier   Item Number: #50004 Categories Americana, American History Literature Authors Samuel Langhorne Clemens (Mark Twain) Printing Date 19th Century Language English Binding Hardcover Book Condition Good Collation Complete