Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (with original artwork)

New York: Charles L. Webster and Company, 1885. First American edition. Very Good +. With original sketch by E. W. Kemble, artist of the iconic Huckleberry Finn frontisportrait, tipped onto the verso of the front free endpaper. The sketch is inscribed "To Ralph from E W Kemble" and captioned: "By gum: I do believe a Sody Fountain in Cairo would be a great snap."

A solid, Very Good+ copy of the book, with no repairs or restoration. Wear at the heel of the spine and lower corners, with the cloth worn through or fraying. Internal contents generally clean and fresh. Leather bookplate of Ralph C. Runyan and paper bookplate of K. O. Foltz to front (truncated) pastedown. Frontis bust in the second state, but with the three main issue points to identify the first printing. Scarce with original artwork from one of the bookseller's key illustrators. Housed in a custom quarter leather slipcase with chemise.

Recounting the adventures of Huckleberry Finn as he flees his own abusive father and aids Jim in his escape from slavery, Twain's novel has been praised for its "distinctly American voice," putting at its center two common people who find an uncommon friendship. "Today perhaps the novel’s greatest significance lies in its conception of childhood, as a time of risk, discovery, and adventure. Huck is no innocent: He lies, steals, smokes, swears, and skips school. He accepts no authority, not from his father or the Widow Douglas or anyone else. And it is the twin images of a perilous, harrowing odyssey of adventure and perfect freedom from all restraints that so many readers find entrancing" (Mintz). A metaphor for a young and rebellious nation, as well as its individualist inhabitants, Huckleberry Finn defies genre by being simultaneously an adventure story, a road novel, a coming of age tale, an expression of nostalgia for the expansive natural spaces lost to industrialization, and an exploration of race and class. Listed on the American Scholar 100 Best American Novels and one of the 100 Best Novels Written in English.

BAL 3415. MacDonnell, 31. Very Good +. (Inventory #: 7261)