Search Results: Humor from Sumner & Stillman

1884. Illustrated by F. Opper, of "Puck." New York and Chicago: Belford, Clarke & Co., 1884. Original light brown wrappers stamped in black. First Edition of this volume of humor, by a 19th-Century master of that genre. Nye (1850-1896) was born in very rural Maine, he grew up and was educated in northern Wisconsin, and he settled in Laramie, Wyoming Territory -- where he was postmaster, superintendent of schools, and journalist at the Laramie Boomerang... where he became known nationally for his humor. He took the name "Bill Nye" from Bret Harte's poem "The Heathen Chinee," and a politically-incorrect quote on the title page is from Harte & Twain's "Ah Sin." Later in his (meningitis-shortened) life, he wrote with James Whitcomb Riley, and traveled with Luther Burbank. In his last decade he penned his credo: There is a grim and ghastly humor -- the humor that is born of a pathetic philosophy -- which now and then strikes me in reading the bright and keen-witted work of our American paragraphers. It… Read More

1919. New York: Boni and Liveright, 1919. Original yellow-orange boards with white cloth spine, with dust jacket. First Edition, being the fifth volume in Boni & Liveright's "Penguin Series." Published nine years after his death, this is one of Twain's few books that appeared under his real name, without mention of his well-known pseudonym. Most of these seventeen humorous sketches had appeared in periodicals in 1870-1871, which means they were some of Twain's earliest; none had previously appeared in book form. In the title story, Twain (looking ahead about 150 years?) presents an intriguing idea: each resident of Gondour is entitled to one vote but can "earn" additional votes (up to a dozen) by availing himself or herself of (free) education; and, each candidate for office must pass strenuous examinations to verify competency before election. This volume is fine, amazingly clean and without wear; the scarce dust jacket has one closed tear on the rear panel, plus edge-wear and soil that are quite… Read More

1867. Skaggaddahunk: Scantlewood, Timberlake & Co., Printers to the North River Society 1867. 12-page booklet without wrappers. First (undoubtedly only) Edition of this diatribe in verse form, criticizing both the United States and Dickens's 1867 reading tour of America. The author's name, the publisher, and the location are all fictitious. The first four lines are: All hail, Charles Dickens! dip your pen In scandal and come back again, To paint our manners, and surprise The world with fudge and frothy lies... And the final eight lines are: ...And pimps, and pugilists, and thieves, Buy seats in Congress, if they please; When honest worth must stand aside For rascals, roguery and pride; When humbug, shaving, sham and shoddy Enrich, or ruin, everybody; And fill all honest men with fear, Dickens may find "good pickings" here! Only one other title by this author and publisher is known -- RECONSTRUCTION, published in 1866, as told in the first person by Andrew Johnson. We do not know whether or not this… Read More

1877. Presented by Enoch Morgan's Sons Co., New York. Five Points NY: Donaldson Brothers, n.d. [1877]. Original light blue wrappers decorated in black and sepia. First Edition of this illustrated poem -- quite possibly an earlier state than either of those documented by Blanck. Written as hack-work at a time when Harte badly needed cash, this is his parody of Longfellow's 1842 poem "Excelsior" -- with numerous minor changes, but with the word "Sapolio" replacing Longfellow's word "Excelsior". This was issued as an advertisement for Sapolio Soap -- said to be the first time a known author used his talents for the sake of an advertisement. The poem is a tale of a youth who comes to town with a "Sapolio" stencil and proceeds to ink the word onto everyone's fences, all the rocks, and even on the nearby mountain peak -- curiously to the dismay of nobody. Copies were issued both in mauve cloth and in these light blue wrappers. Blanck identifies two printings, but this copy varies from both -- and just… Read More

1876. With Nine Illustrations by Henry Holiday. London: Macmillan and Co., 1876. 1 page undated ads. Original deep red cloth pictorially decorated in black, all page edges gilt. First Edition, special dark-red binding, which consisted of 100 copies. This is a poetical nonsense tale, both funny and subtle, that "describes with infinite humour the impossible voyage of an improbable crew to find an inconceivable creature" [WM&G]. The crew consists of a Bellman, a Bonnet-Maker, a Barrister, a Broker, a Billiard-Maker, a Banker, a Butcher, a Baker, a Beaver and (the only one not illustrated) "a Boots." In his dedicatory verse to Gertrude Chataway, Carroll hid the child's name twice. Standard copies were issued in buff-colored cloth (with the same elaborate pictorial decoration, but in black). According to WM&G, "It is doubtful whether any variant coloured bindings were for sale, other than buff or red; the other colours seem to have been bound specially for Dodgson, who wrote to Macmillan on 21 Mar. 1876… Read More

1871. Or, The Adventures of a Young Gentleman in Search of a Religion. By Mr. Benjamins (Bret Harte...). London: John Camden Hotten, n.d. [1871]. 2 pp preliminary ads plus 8 pp terminal ads dated "for 1872." Original glazed printed wrappers. First Separate Edition of this parody of Benjamin Disraeli's 1870 novel LOTHAIR. It was in 1871 that the new edition of Harte's CONDENSED NOVELS came out in the U.S., which added two new parodies (including this one) to the fifteen that had appeared in the original 1867 edition. Blanck (citing Kozlay) notes three states of this book, and this copy does not quite equate with any of the three: the inside front wrapper lists "The New Books of Humour" (not cited at all by Blanck, though it could be his State 2); the outside rear wrapper promotes Bryant & May's Patent Safety Matches (as in Blanck's State 3). This copy is in good-to-very good condition, which is not bad for such a fragile, ephemeral piece: the spine wrapper is mostly perished, and there is other… Read More

1871. New York: Sheldon & Company, n.d. [1871]. Original printed wrappers. First Edition, second state (with the Ball Black & Co. ad on the inside front cover) of this comically-illustrated burlesque. This title was also issued in cloth. This is a near-fine copy (very little wear other than one small corner chip in the front wrapper, faint damp-mark at the edges). Though this is the most common of Twain's very early productions, we do not often see wrappered copies in any better condition. McBride pp 16-17; Blanck 3326.

1877. Boston: James R. Osgood and Company, 1877. Original terra-cotta cloth decorated in black. First "Collectible" Edition of this play first performed in 1851. We say first "collectible" because there are only four known copies of the original 1851 pamphlet; supposedly a fifth, from which Osgood printed this edition, was destroyed in the Boston fire of 1879. This is a volume in the publisher's "Vest Pocket Series," so named for its diminutive size (a second Dickens "comic burletta" was published in this series the same year -- IS SHE HIS WIFE?). This copy is terra-cotta in color; others are green, without priority. It is a bright, near-fine copy (very slight rubbing at the very tips of the binding) -- quite uncommon in this condition. Eckel pp 64-5. Although not so identified, this copy came from the collection of the major Dickens collector Martin Nason.

1877. Boston: James R. Osgood and Company, 1877. Original terra-cotta cloth decorated in black. First "Collectible" Edition of this play first performed in 1851. We say first "collectible" because there are only four known copies of the original 1851 pamphlet; supposedly a fifth, from which Osgood printed this edition, was destroyed in the Boston fire of 1879. This is a volume in the publisher's "Vest Pocket Series," so named for its diminutive size (a second Dickens "comic burletta" was published in this series the same year -- IS SHE HIS WIFE?). This copy is terra-cotta in color; others are green, without priority. It is a bright, near-fine copy (minor rubbing at the tips, one small mark on the fore-edge of the leaves) -- quite uncommon in this condition. Eckel pp 64-5.

1878. New York: Slote, Woodman & Co., n.d. [1878]. 4 pp undated ads. Original red-orange wrappers decorated in black and gold. First Edition, second printing, second binding, of this collection of nine short tales. The title one is an amusing tale about the author hearing a musical jingle and having it "infect" his mind like a virus -- wiping out his memory and incapacitating his ability to write, until he inadvertently passes the "virus" off to someone else. Another tale, "The Loves of Alonso Fitts Clarence and Rosannah Ethelton," is said to be the first story written that includes a telephone as part of the plot (24 months after Bell's patent). The second printing is identified by (a) Twain's name on the title page in facsimile autograph rather than in roman type; (b) two leaves of ads, rather than one; (c) correction of the error "health offi...... could" on p. 91, and (d) sixteen lines of text (postscript added) on p. 101. The book was issued simultaneously in cloth and in wrappers -- each of… Read More

1872. being a description of the Leading Business Houses, Manufactories, Inventions, Etc. of the Pacific Coast, together with Copious and Readable Selections, chiefly from California Writers. Compiled by J. Price and C.S. Haley. San Francisco: Francis & Valentine..., 1872. Original dark olive cloth, with "Tales, Sketches, Poetry and Music" in gilt on the front cover. First Appearance in book form, preceded only by a one-page broadside printed in July 1868. It is a humorous sketch, in which the populace of San Francisco, knowing that Twain is about to embark on a voyage to New York to arrange the publication of a book, begs and implores him please NOT to have a farewell reading -- "there is a limit to human endurance." Next comes Twain's reply, including "I WILL torment the people if I want to"... This goes on, past a threat from the Chief of Police, to Twain announcing the time and place of the reading -- which was, after all, the actual purpose of the original one-page flyer. Also first appearing… Read More

1894. Shannon, Charles. London: John Lane at the Sign of the Bodley Head, 1894. 16 pp ads dated March 1894. Original violet cloth decorated in gilt. First Edition of Wilde's satirical play about upper-class social scandal, which consisted of 500 copies (so stated -- half as many copies as the following year's THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST). Wilde wrote this play for production by Herbert Beerbohm Tree (Max's elder brother), of the Theatre Royal in Haymarket, where it opened on 19 April 1893. The sophisticated Lord Illingworth has appointed young Gerald Arbuthnot to be his Secretary, but Gerald's mother, "a woman of no importance," guards a long-concealed secret that prompts her to advise her son to decline the appointment -- but is reluctant to say why... Mason quotes an April 1893 theatrical review: "...the scene between Lord Illingworth and Mrs. Arbuthnot at the end of the second act of this play [pp 76-82] is the most virile and intelligent -- yes, I mean it, the most intelligent -- piece of… Read More