Franklin Library: MARK TWAIN BIOGRAPHY: HUCK FINN: TOM SAWYER: MISSOURI
Item History & Price
Franklin Library leather edition of Justin Kaplan's "Mr. Clemens and Mark Twain: a Biography, " Frontispiece caricature by David G. Klein, a limited edition, one of the PULITZER PRIZE CLASSISCS series, published in 1986. Bound in red leather, the book has marbled end leaves, acid-free paper, a satin book marker, Symth-sewn binding, hubbed spine, gold gilding on three edges---in near FINE condition. Samuel Laghorne Cleme...ns, who lived from 1835 – 1910, better known by his pen name, Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist. Twain was raised in HANNIBAL, MISSOURI, which later provided the setting for Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. He served an apprenticeship with a printer and then worked as a typesetter, contributing articles to the newspaper of his older brother. He later became a riverboat pilot on the Mississippi River before heading west to join Orion in Nevada. He referred humorously to his lack of success at mining, turning to journalism for the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise. His humorous story, "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, " was published in 1865, based on a story that he heard at in Angles Camp where he had spent some time as a miner. The short story brought international attention and was even translated into French. His wit and satire, in prose and in speech, earned praise from critics and peers, and he was a friend to presidents, artists, industrialists, and European royalty. Twain married Olivia Langdon, fathered three children, and built an elaborate home in Hartford, Connecticut. He earned a great deal of money from his writings and lectures, but he invested in ventures that lost most of it—notably a mechanical typesetter that failed because of its complexity and imprecision. He filed for bankruptcy in the wake of these financial setbacks, but he eventually overcame his financial troubles by engaging in a five-year speaking tour around the world. He chose to pay all his pre-bankruptcy creditors in full, even after he had no legal responsibility to do so. Twain was born shortly after an appearance of HALLEY'S COMET, and he predicted that he would "go out with it" as well; he died the day after the comet returned. He was lauded as the "greatest humorist this country has produced." Ernest Hemingway said "all of American Literature" begins with "Huck Finn" and William Faulkner called him "the father of American literature." 424 pages, including an Index---in a GORGEOUS binding! I offer COMBINED shipping.
