Pudd’nhead Wilson - First Edition - First Issue
A Mark Twain Classic in Fine Original Cloth
Twain, Mark. THE TRAGEDY OF PUDD'NHEAD WILSON, AND THE COMEDY OF THOSE EXTRAORDINARY TWINS (Hartford: American Publishing Co, 1894) First edition, first issue. With delightful illustrations in the margins to nearly every page. 8vo, publisher’s original rust-colored cloth decorated extensively in gilt and black on the upper cover and spine. 432pp. A superlative, very fine copy, extremely fresh and bright .
AN UNCOMMONLY FINE COPY OF THE FIRST ISSUE OF TWAIN’S BITING YET COMEDIC COMMENTARY ON SLAVERY AND THE ROLE OF RACE IN AMERICAN SOCIETY. It is a short novel featuring the brilliantly crafted character Roxanna, a mulatto slave who suffers dire consequences after switching her infant son with her master’s baby, and the clever Pudd’nhead Wilson, an ostracized small-town lawyer. Twain’s darkly comic masterpiece is a provocative exploration of slavery and miscegenation. In the words of Langstone Hughes, “Mark Twain, in his presentation of Negroes as human beings, stands head and shoulders above the other Southern writers of his times.”
Included in the publication is Those Extraordinary Twins, the slapstick and irrelevant story that evolved into ‘Pudd’nhead Wilson’. By included it the publisher provided us with a fascinating view of the author’s process. BAL 3442. |
