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How to identify a Mark Twain first edition

Mark Twain first editions don’t say “first edition”. Most of his books were sold by subscription, door to door, by the American Publishing Company of Hartford, and the first printing is told from later ones by the title page, the paper, the binding and small points of issue that bibliographers have recorded. Two books have a twist: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn were published in London first. Five checks, then the books one by one and what first edition Mark Twain books sell for.

The five checks

1. Title page: the first edition’s publisher, city and date (Hartford, American Publishing Company, for most).
2. Binding: cloth, sheep or half morocco can all be publisher’s bindings on a subscription first.
3. Points of issue: small errors corrected during printing (“with the was” on page 57 of Huckleberry Finn).
4. Tom Sawyer: wove paper, and the half-title and frontispiece on separate leaves.
5. Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn: the London edition (Chatto & Windus) came first.

1. The publisher and date on the title page

Start with the title page. A first edition carries the original publisher and the year of first publication: Hartford, American Publishing Company for The Innocents Abroad (1869), Roughing It (1872), Tom Sawyer (1876), A Tramp Abroad (1880) and Following the Equator (1897); New York, Charles L. Webster & Company for Huckleberry Finn (1885) and A Connecticut Yankee (1889); Boston, James R. Osgood for The Prince and the Pauper and Life on the Mississippi. Copies from Harper & Brothers, or from a uniform collected set such as the Author’s National Edition, are later editions, whatever the date in the preface.

2. The binding: cloth, sheep or half morocco

Subscription books were sold from a sample prospectus, and the buyer chose the binding: cloth, or at a higher price sheep (plain leather) or half morocco. All three are original publisher’s bindings, so a leather Twain first is not necessarily rebound. A copy rebound later by a binder is worth less than one in its original cloth or leather. These are big, heavy books, and the hinges are often cracked or repaired: check them before anything else.

3. The points of issue in the text

Errors corrected while the book was printing tell early copies from later ones. The best known are in Huckleberry Finn: “with the was” for “with the saw” on page 57, and the leaf with page 283, usually a cancel. Following the Equator has the signature mark “11” at the foot of page 161 in early copies. Many copies mix early and later states, so read the points together, as the sections below do, rather than relying on one.

4. The paper and the first leaves

Hold a leaf to the light. Wove paper is even; laid paper shows fine parallel lines. The first printing of Tom Sawyer is on wove paper, with the half-title and the frontispiece on separate leaves. In later printings the frontispiece is printed on the back of the half-title, and many are on laid paper.

5. London or New York: which came first

Twain published in Britain first to secure his copyright there. Tom Sawyer appeared in London from Chatto & Windus in June 1876, about six months before the American edition, and without illustrations. Huckleberry Finn appeared from Chatto & Windus in December 1884, two months before the American edition dated 1885. Both are first editions, and collectors want both: the London one is first in time, the American one is the illustrated subscription book.

Subscription publishing: why first edition Mark Twain books look the way they do

From The Innocents Abroad (1869) on, Twain’s main publisher was the American Publishing Company of Hartford, Connecticut, which sold only by subscription: agents went door to door with a prospectus, a sample of the text, illustrations and bindings, and took orders before the book was delivered. That explains what a Twain first looks like:

• Big and illustrated, often over 500 pages, because buyers expected value for money.
• A choice of bindings: cloth, sheep or half morocco, all original (check 2).
• No “first edition” statement: the title page, the paper and the points of issue date a copy.

In 1884 Twain set up his own firm, Charles L. Webster & Company in New York, run by his nephew by marriage, which published Huckleberry Finn and A Connecticut Yankee, also by subscription. His first book, The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County (1867), came from C. H. Webb in New York.

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer first edition (1876)

The American first edition is Hartford, American Publishing Company, 1876, illustrated by True Williams, and usually bound in blue cloth stamped in black and gilt (it was also sold in sheep and half morocco). It is recorded in Blanck’s Bibliography of American Literature as BAL 3369. The first printing:

• is printed on wove paper;
• has the half-title and the frontispiece on separate leaves.

Later printings put the frontispiece on the back of the half-title and are often on laid paper. The London edition, Chatto & Windus, June 1876, came first and has no illustrations.

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn first edition (New York, 1885)

The American first edition is New York, Charles L. Webster and Company, 1885, with 174 illustrations by E. W. Kemble and a heliotype bust of Twain as the frontispiece. The title page is dated 1885 and the copyright page 1884. Most copies are bound in green cloth; it was also sold in sheep and half morocco. Collectors check:

• Page 57: “with the was” in the eleventh line from the bottom, later corrected to “with the saw”.
• Page 283: an engraver altered the illustration on this page indecently and the plate was caught before publication, so the leaf was cut out and replaced. In most copies it is a cancel, glued to a stub you can see in the gutter.
• Page 9: “Decided”, later corrected to “Decides”.
• Page 13: the list of illustrations gives “Him and another Man” as on page 88.

Bibliographers have shown that these were not corrected in a neat order, so most copies mix early and later states. A copy with several early points is better, but none of them alone makes or breaks a first edition.

Huckleberry Finn: the London first edition (1884)

Chatto & Windus published The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in London in December 1884, before the American edition. It is bound in red pictorial cloth, uses the same Kemble illustrations, and has the publisher’s catalogue bound in at the back. It has none of the American points: those come from the American printing.

Following the Equator first edition (1897)

First printing, unsigned, near fine: $564 · Signed, near fine: $2,585 · Full values by condition

Twain’s account of his lecture tour around the world, published by the American Publishing Company, Hartford, 1897 (BAL 3451), with the title-page date in Roman numerals, MDCCCXCVII. The first state has only The American Publishing Company in the imprint on the title page and the signature mark “11” at the foot of page 161; copies with only one of the two points exist. The frontispiece is a photograph of Twain with a facsimile signature: printed, not signed. The usual binding is blue cloth with a colour panel of an elephant on the front board. In London it was published as More Tramps Abroad.

Other Mark Twain first edition books

The first edition of each of Twain’s major books: the publisher and year to look for on the title page.

What Mark Twain first editions are worth

From the sales recorded on BBourse, unsigned copies, by condition and binding:

• Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, New York 1885: about $2,250 to $20,000. One signed copy sold for $92,000.
• The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Hartford 1876, first printing: about $6,200 for a rebound copy to $20,000; later printings from about $1,250 to $3,000.
• Huckleberry Finn, London 1884: about $2,000 in our recorded sales, with copies offered up to $3,500.
• Following the Equator, 1897: the live values are in its section above.

What moves the price: the first printing and early points; the original binding (cloth in bright condition is the most sought after, a rebound copy is worth much less); sound hinges; and a signature. Twain signed as “Mark Twain” and as “S. L. Clemens”, and a facsimile signature printed on a frontispiece is not one.

First edition Mark Twain or later printing? At a glance

Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn also have London first editions (Chatto & Windus, 1876 and 1884) that came out before the American ones.

Common questions

How do I know if my Mark Twain book is a first edition?

Look at the title page first: a first edition has the original publisher and year (for most books, Hartford, American Publishing Company). Then check the binding and the points of issue for that title. Twain’s books don’t carry a “first edition” statement, so those details decide.

Which Mark Twain first edition books are the most valuable?

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885) and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) in their first printings and original bindings, and the London first editions of both. Signed copies are worth several times as much: a signed Huckleberry Finn sold for $92,000.

Is a Huckleberry Finn dated 1885 a first edition?

A copy from Charles L. Webster, New York, with 1885 on the title page and 1884 on the copyright page is the first American edition. Its early points (page 57, the cancel at page 283) place it within the printing. The London edition from Chatto & Windus, dated 1884, came out two months earlier.

Are leather-bound Mark Twain first editions rebound?

Not necessarily. Subscription buyers could order sheep or half morocco instead of cloth, so a publisher’s leather binding is original. A binding made later by a binder is a rebind and lowers the value.

Is the signature in my Following the Equator real?

The frontispiece photograph of Twain carries a printed facsimile signature in every copy. A real signature is in ink, usually on a front free endpaper or a laid-in card. Signed, inscribed, bookplate or facsimile?.

Guides and editions mentioned

• Mark Twain first editions: values: every Twain edition we value
• Following the Equator, first edition
• How to tell if any book is a first edition: including 19th-century points of issue, cancels and bindings
• Signed, inscribed, bookplate or facsimile?: how to tell a real signature
• Sell a Mark Twain first edition: send photos, get a firm cash offer

No images: we haven’t yet photographed Mark Twain first editions for this guide. The points are from Blanck’s Bibliography of American Literature as cited in the trade, and from the copies recorded on BBourse; values are from recorded sales.

Have a first printing? Send a few photos and get a firm offer in 2–3 days. Get an offer.