CLEMENS, SAMUEL L. | The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, and other Sketches. By Mark Twain. New York: C.H. Webb, 1867

The Property of a Gentleman

CLEMENS, SAMUEL L.

The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, and other Sketches. By Mark Twain. New York: C.H. Webb, 1867

8vo (6 ¾ x 4 ⅜ in.; 171 x 111 mm). Initial leaf of publisher's advertisement on yellow paper, unbroken type at pages 21, 66, and 198; scattered minor spotting, text block cracked at center. Publisher's green cloth over bevelled boards, frog device stamped diagonally in lower left corners of covers (gilt on front, blind on rear), brown-coated endpapers, plain edges; some light fading and soiling, rubbing to extremities, head- and tail-pieces slightly frayed. Housed in a purple cloth slipcase.

First edition, first issue of Mark Twain's first book. The sketch is based upon an old folk tale that had been in print in California as early as 1853, but Clemens's version, first published under his pseudonym and under the title "Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog" in the New York Saturday Press (18 November 1865) elevated him to literary fame. The story tells of the demise of jumping frog Dan'l Webster, pet of gambling Jim Smiley, which is defeated when a stranger weighs its gullet down with quail shot.

REFERENCE:

BAL 3310; Johnson p.3

PROVENANCE:

John C. Gerber (bookplate)