ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER, THE

Twain, Mark [Clemens, S. L.] THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER. Hartford: American Publishing Company, 1876. First edition, first printing. Original decorated blue cloth, gilt. Fore-edges of five leaves browned or frayed due to having once been slightly sprung, spine ends heavily worn, some foxing and scattered stains in text; but a good tight copy. The first printing was 5,000 copies, and by January, 1877, 9,879 copies had been printed and bound. Advance subscription orders called for a second printing before the day of publication, so even those very first buyers of this book stood only a fifty precent chance of getting a copy of the first printing. "For once, the natural rights of the small boy were set forth by a great writer who remembered his own childhood, when he had indeed inveigled some boys into whitewashing a fence for him, given pain-killer to his cat, teased his brother unmercifully, and continually sharpened his wits in devising ways of escaping punishment .... [this book] let fresh air into the minds of parents who had shut the door on their own childhood ..." --Grolier Hundred. Housed in a cloth folding case, leather label. Peter Parley to Penrod, p. 43. BAL 3369. Grolier American Hundred 79. (Inventory #: 23528)