The Innocents Abroad, or The New Pilgrim's Progress

Hartford: American Publishing Company, 1869 With 234 illustrations by Fay and Cox. First edition, first issue, pages xvii-xviii lacking page reference numbers, page xviii with "Thankless Devotion- A Newspaper Valedictory" as the last entry, page 129 without an illustration, "XLI" to page 643, and "Personal History of Ulysses S. Grant" advertisement to page 654. Publisher's half brown morocco with marbled boards, five raised bands to spine, lettered in gilt, ruled in blind, all edges marbled, and marbled endpapers. Good or better, with some rubbing to morocco and boards, some fading to marbled text block edges, some dampstaining to foot of spine and page edges, light soiling to pages with a small burn mark to edge of p. 143, and some damage to edges of a few pages at rear of book. Overall, a solid copy. BAL 3316. The Innocents Abroad is a travel book, or, as Twain writes in his preface a "record of a pleasure-trip." Based on the author's experiences traveling on Quaker City, a retired Civil War steamship that sailed on an extended trip to Europe and the Holy Land in 1867, The Innocents Abroad was Twain's best-selling novel during his lifetime. Twain composed the text from portions of what he wrote during his trip for the Daily Alta California (a sponsor of Twain's excursion), The New York Tribune, and The New York Herald. . First Edition. Hard Cover. Near Fine.