THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN (Tom Sawyer’s Comrade).

New York: Charles L. Webster, 1885. First edition. First Issue. With 174 black and white illustrations by E.W. Kemble. Large 8vo, original publisher's sheep binding with the red and black lettering labels on the spine. It is estimated that only 2500 copies were issued in this binding. 366 pp. A very pleasing and handsome copy. Light, expert and unobtrusive refurbishment to the joints. FIRST EDITION OF ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT AND GREATEST BOOKS IN AMERICAN LITERATURE. A very handsome copy with the following earliest setting states as listed by BAL: "Him and another Man" is listed at page 88, BAL's first state; page 57, eleventh line from the bottom reads "...with the was...," BAL's first state; page 155 with final 5 “stamped in” by hand (see Underhill), and matching the original font in the setting of the page number (no priority, occurring randomly in all three states independent of other major signs of first printing sheets, but this setting seems to appear least often); the portrait frontispiece is in BAL's first state, “heliotype” imprint on the portrait frontispiece, title page with 1884 copyright on verso, p.9: the heading for Chapter 6 reads “Decided” (later corrected to “Decides”), p.143: “I” in “Col.” (line 1) missing and “b” in “body” (line 7) broken, p. 161: signature mark “11” is missing, final leaf is a blank. Very rare with this many first issue points. The sheep bindings are generally in poor condition, but this copy is still quite nice.
Along with Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn is considered the stepping stone to modern American literature. And along with Tom Sawyer, for the first time, the hero of the novel was a boy. These books are landmarks and Hemingway often offered his opinion that the modern novel would have been impossible without them. With Whitman’s Leaves of Grass and Melville’s Moby Dick, they provide us with a view of America transcending its past and beginning its future.