Book: 1st Ed 1885 Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain | Rare Vermont Historical Provenance | INQUIRE

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A highly collectible historical masterpiece, this important & controversial book, is by one of America's most well known authors, Mark Twain.   Some say it's the best example of American Literature ever written.

Title: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, (Tom Sawyer's Comrade) 
Author: Twain, Mark (Samuel L. Clemens)
Publisher: Charles L Webster & Co, New York.
Publication Year: 1885
Binding:  Hardcover
Edition:  1st AMERICAN EDITION, LATER YEAR

© 1884 by Samuel L Clemens
   (The two dates 1884 & 1885 are both correctly used in this book.)

Original green cloth hardcover, with gold gilt. 
   (Approximately 19,000 green-cloth copies were made)

174 illustrations by E.W. Kemble.  
Photographic frontispiece image of the bust of Mark Twain by Karl Gerhardt.

Twain composed the story in pen on notepaper between 1876 and 1883.

1885 was the first printing in the USA.   During that year, a few minor corrections were made, and this book has those changes or points including;
   • Mark Twain bust without cloth visible, later version. Early version has cloth.
   • The second "5" on page 155 is slightly larger, later version.  Early version "15"
   • Contents Chapter VI "Huck Decides to Leave".  Replacing "Decided" in early version.
   • Page 13, illustrations list, "Him and another Man" page "87" is the corrected later version, instead of "88" early version.
   • Page 57, eleven lines from bottom early version reads "with the was".  Changed later version "with the saw".


DESCRIPTION
Pre-Owned
Overall good condition. 
Has normal shelf wear, corners & edges rubbed.  Has smudges, stains, & age spots.
Binding good. Appears to be intact and all original.
The back blank inside cover page has a small tear.

Its an attractive copy with Vermont historical provenance going back to the original owner late 1880's:

PROVENANCE
1> Charles T. Walter, late 1880's personal library collection sticker label #26 on inside cover.  Mr Walter was an author and long time editor of the St. Johnsbury Republican Vermont newspaper.
2> Hand signed on inside front cover:      " Dorothy C Walter    Brown 1912 "
     
     ABOUT DOROTHY C. WALTER (1889-1967) 
   Graduated from Brown University in 1912 - making this book a possible graduation gift from her father. 
   Dorothy C Walter, a documented Vermont author of plays, poetry, & stories, was an English teacher for new emigrants, and helped others get published.  She served as a researcher for the Vermont Commission on Country Life, and was an associate of Vermont literary figures John Walter Coates and Nellie Richardson.
  Dorothy lived at her family's home, RIVERSIDE in Lyndon VT.  
  In the late 1920's-1940's The League of Vermont Writers met at Riverside, and she served as Secretary.  Riverside is now a school.
  In her Autobiography, she called herself, "A Victorian Rolling Stone."
  "A home meshed with community, bustling with business, and filled with books, it also hosted a great deal of writing. Late in life when Dorothy described her childhood, she wrote: “Always when home with the family there was a great deal of typing, clerical work, editing, chart-making and proof-reading: my uncle and aunt were both authors; my father was a newspaper editor; my mother wrote poetry, did historical research and editing. I helped as needed on these projects." ... 
  References: 
  www.northstarmonthly.com,  www.vermonthistory.org
  Vermont Historical Society has collections:
  • The Dorothy Walter Papers 1898-1941
  • League of Vermont Writer's Secretary's Papers 1928-1942

3> Early 2000's - Reputable Texas Bookstore
4> Current: Private Texas Collection

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What did Ernest Hemingway say about The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn?
"All modern literature comes from one book by Mark Twain. It's the best book weve had. All American writing comes from that. There was nothing before. There has been nothing since."
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RETURNS:
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