The book’s origin story is intriguing – The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County was, in fact, never published where first intended.

Just 1,000 copies of the short-story collection were issued on its first printing and they were bound in seven colours, including this rich sea-green, along with terracotta, plum, lavender, red, blue and maroon (with no priority given to any shade). Twain’s hugely popular short story was published in 1867 alongside 27 of his others previously featured in periodicals. One of our most valuable Mark Twain books, this primary first edition, first issue of Twain’s first book, The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, is embossed on its cover with the classic gilt stamp of a leaping frog. The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County 100 years later, Henry Nash Smith reframed this view: Twain’s work had unleashed “previously inaccessible resources of imaginative power, but also made vernacular language, with its new sources of pleasure and new energy, available for American prose and poetry in the twentieth century” (Nash, 1984). Though criticised for its depiction of racial stereotypes and use of the n-word, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, set in the antebellum American South, is also largely celebrated as an early anti-racist text and introduced Twain to an enduring global audience.Īs is the case for many masterpieces, initial reception of the novel was often scathing and it was banned in numerous libraries, condemned for a perceived coarseness of language and crude humour. The tale of boyhood primarily follows the journey of “Huck” and his new-found friend Jim, the latter having escaped slavery, down the Mississippi River. Best boyhood friends Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry “Huck” Finn are, of course, Twain’s best-known characters and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, a direct sequel to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, is the author’s most famous work.

This Huckleberry Finn first edition, signed from Twain’s publisher to his lawyer, was printed in the US in 1885 and is filled with over 100 original illustrations by American artist E. From a Huckleberry Finn first edition to a copy of The Innocents Abroad signed in Twain’s own hand, we warmly welcome you to discover four of our current favourites below. First edition Mark Twain books can be difficult to come by and discovering a special antique, a unique first edition or a copy hand-inscribed with a meaningful message is always cause for excitement at Peter Harrington we are constantly searching for and collecting highly valuable Mark Twain books.

Huckleberry finn first edition