Clemens, Samuel Langhorne | An exquisite example of Huckleberry Finn in blue cloth, the Doheny copy

Clemens, Samuel Langhorne

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Tom Sawyer's Comrade) … By Mark Twain. New York: Charles L. Webster, 1885

8vo (216 x 168 mm). Frontispiece and 173 in-text illustrations by E.W. Kemble, photogravure plate of a portrait bust by Karl Gerhardt (BAL state 1), title leaf a cancel, copyright notice dated 1884; erased ownership inscription to front pastedown. Publisher's pictorial blue cloth gilt, light peach endpapers; edges and head and foot of spine lightly scuffed with a little exposure, spine very slightly toned. Folding chemise and blue quarter morocco slipcase.

The Doheny copy of this cornerstone of American literature.

Huckleberry Finn has been called "the most praised and most condemned 19th-century American work of fiction" (Legacies of Genius, 47).

Following The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Clemens decided to explore a more complex subject and storyline than his autobiographical first novel. Huckleberry Finn follows the titular character and Jim, the escaped slave, as they embark on a journey downriver that leads them to face humanity in its many forms, distilling the rapidly changing America of the time and its key issues into a story about friendship amidst adversity. Written using an unprecedented Southern antebellum vernacular, Twain composed the work on and off over several years. The narrative has been controversial since its release, initially due to the book's perceived crudeness, and more recently due to the racial stereotyping and slurs. It is recognized, alongside Moby Dick (lot 23), as embodying the essence and character of the United States, and is continually ranked among the Great American Novels.

Significantly scarcer in blue cloth, this first edition was bound to match The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (see lot 5). Only subscribers could request this binding instead of the standard publisher's green (see lot 7), making them 20 times rarer, and even more so in such exceptional condition.

Outstandingly clean and bright.

REFERENCE:

BAL 3415; Grolier, American 87; Johnson 43–50

PROVENANCE:

Estelle Doheny (bookplate to front pastedown; her sale, Christie's New York, 14 December 2001, lot 314)