Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,1885 TRUE First Edition w/ Curved Fly, Mark Twain

Description: "All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn." -- Ernest Hemingway. "All right, then, I'll go to hell.” - Huck, upon realizing he can't get himself to give Jim up.Here we offer the holy grail of popular antiquarian firsts: the very scarce TRUE first edition, first print, of the classic American novel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain, published by Charles Webster and Company, New York, in 1885, and densely illustrated with E.W. Kemble's drawings, including the conjugate (uncorrected) page 283 with the notorious "curved fly" illustration. The original illustration on page 283, known as the "curved fly", had a bent line in the sketch of Uncle Silas's crotch that, at a stretch, could be taken to suggest a bulge in Uncle Silas's pants at his crotch or "fly." Less than 2,500 of these illustrations were printed and used solely in the deluxe calfskin bindings that were to precede the standard cloth edition. At this point, an unknown printer's assistant altered the engraving plate by scratching a penis onto it on the bent fly area of the illustration. After printing a few of the obscene illustrations, the vandalism was discovered and a small number of circulated copies were successfully recalled. (Despite an offered $500 reward, the guilty party of the 50 employees was never identified.)When they burned a new plate for the illustration, they straightened the original suggestive bent line in the sketch. All subsequent printings and all cloth-bound printings feature the straightened line in the fly, including the UK Chatto and Windus edition, which is often incorrectly regarded as true first, as it was released before the corrected US edition. To make the collecting of the curved fly edition more challenging, they were bound with acidic binding materials, and so just about every copy was falling apart withing a few decades. As a result, most were likely trashed, and the ones that are extant are either in a shambles or rebound. According to the Bibliography of American Literature (3415) [pb.4987,] the original curved fly is only known in the rare prospectuses and a few leather-bound copies, (like this one.) ALL first edition points are present in this book: frontispiece cropped so that the tablecloth is visible; "Heliotype Printing Co." at lower left of frontispiece; heading for Chapter VI (6) on the first contents page (p.9) reads “Huck Decided to Leave;” illustrations captioned "Him and another Man" is listed as being on p. 88; eleventh line from bottom of page 57 reads, "with the was"; no signature mark on page 161; 1885 title leaf is integral with copyright notice dated 1884; Page 143 with "1" missing from "Col." at top of illustration and "b" in "body" in line 7 is broken; missing second "5" on page number at p. 155.Condition is everything in evaluating firsts, and this is frankly the best preserved copy I've ever encountered. This copy has deteriorated spine leather and deterioration to the leather edges of the boards, but otherwise, seems in near-perfect condition. I rebind virtually every book I find that cannot easily be read, with very few exceptions, and this is a perfect exception. In such excellently-preserved condition, it would be a crime to repair it. The few periodic smudges on text pages are actually printing smudges. The frontis tissue looks untouched. In fact, if it weren't for minor corner chips on pages 113 and 179 (please see pic,) I'd think it was unread. Binding is very tight and square. Very clean, bright, and crisp text and numerous illustrations. 366 pages. The book measures approximately 8.75 x 7-inches. This, the most iconic of firsts, will make a remarkable centerpiece to your collection or a very thoughtful gift. Normal 0 MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 Please click HERE to see the other Mark Twain classics we offer! The American Library Association lists this title among its 100 most banned books. To see our entire shelf of banned books, please click HERE. ** Have you seen all the amazing first and rare editions of iconic books we offer? We gladly combine shipping and refund the shipping overpayment, so please check out our other items! -- other auctions of classic antiquarian literature and special gifts!** Thank you for your interest! ***Priority shipping options are available at checkout!***

Price: 7495 USD

Location: Bronx, New York

End Time: 2023-09-10T21:59:25.000Z

Shipping Cost: N/A USD