LIFE ON THE MISSISSIPPI

London: Chatto & Windus, 1883. Very good.. First UK edition of the non-fiction companion to HUCKLEBERRY FINN, a memoir of Twain's experiences as a steamboat pilot before the Civil War. LIFE ON THE MISSISSIPPI draws together two major strands of Twain's writing: the pensive regional descriptions of the South of his younger years, and the spirited travel narratives that took readers with him on adventures. Twain biographer Justin Kaplan sees the development of this memoir and HUCKLEBERRY FINN, written at the same time, as "symbiotic": when stuck on one, Twain would turn to the other. The relationship between the two was so close that material from HUCK actually ended up in LIFE ON THE MISSISSIPPI, including an entire chapter.

The first UK edition is technically the first to reach the public, preceding the US edition by several days for copyright purposes. Octavo, 7.5'' x 5''. Original red cloth stamped in gilt and black. Brown leaf-patterned endpapers. Illustrated in black and white. Publisher's catalogue at rear, dated March 1883. xxvi, 561, [3], 32 pages. Contemporary ink gift inscription (dated August 1883) to second fly leaf; ink owner name with matching date to corner of title page; marginal pencil notation on page 17. Evidence of bookplate removal to front pastedown. Binding recased, with light soil and bumping to boards. Slight lean. Some bleed of red cloth color to endpapers. Else interior largely clean with just a few instances of soil. Tight.