I have been in the rare and antiquarian book business for over forty years; my family has been in the rare books business since 1876. Rare books are in my blood.
Tragedy of Pudd’nhead Wilson and the Comedy Those Extraordinary Twins, The
Hartford, Conn.: American Publishing Company, 1894. Item #06554
Identity, Race, and Detection - Twain at His Most Subtle
First American Edition, First State - with Distinguished Provenance
TWAIN, Mark. The Tragedy of Pudd’nhead Wilson and the Comedy Those Extraordinary Twins. Hartford, Conn.: American Publishing Company, 1894.
First American edition, BAL first state (with sheets bulking approximately 1 1/8 inches, and with the title leaf conjugate with leaf <1>3). Octavo. [6], 15–432 pp. Frontispiece portrait with facsimile autograph (1 7/16 inches wide). Title-page printed in red and black.
Original brown cloth, decoratively stamped in black and lettered in gilt on front cover and spine, edges sprinkled brown, original drab gray endpapers. Small stains on fore-edge not affecting text. An exceptionally bright and well-preserved copy, chemised in a brown cloth folder, housed in a quarter dark brown calf slipcase, spine worn with some loss.
Provenance: From the library of Jean Hersholt, with his bookplate on the rear paste-down and his label on the chemise.
One of Twain’s most sophisticated and unsettling novels, Pudd’nhead Wilson marks a return to the Mississippi River setting of his youth, but with a darker and more analytical edge. At its core lies a tale of switched identities and concealed origins, culminating in one of the earliest literary uses of fingerprint evidence as a device of detection - anticipating later developments in forensic science and detective fiction.
The novel is paired here with Those Extraordinary Twins, originally conceived as part of the same narrative but ultimately issued as a separate, comic counterpart - offering a rare glimpse into Twain’s creative process and his shifting intentions during composition.
This copy represents the true first state, identifiable by the bulk of the sheets and the conjugacy of the title leaf - points of importance for collectors of Twain’s more complex bibliographies.
Of particular note is the provenance of Jean Hersholt, the celebrated Danish-American actor and distinguished bibliophile, whose collection was renowned for its breadth and quality. His association adds an additional layer of cultural interest, linking Twain’s work to one of the great private libraries of the 20th century.
An outstanding and unusually bright example of a key later Twain work - combining literary importance, bibliographical correctness, and notable provenance.
Price: $850.00