[Rarebooks] fa: MARK TWAIN'S FIRST MAGAZINE APPEARANCE in ORIG. WRAPS - Harper's 1866

[Ardwight Chamberlain]

Listed on eBay now - along with other rare and/or intriguing Americana  
- auctions ending  Sunday, Nov. 9. More details and photos can be  
found at the URL below or by searching under the seller name arch_in_la.

http://shop.ebay.com/merchant/arch_in_la

Thanks,
Ardwight Chamberlain
L.A.

[Mark Twain:] "Forty-Three Days in an Open Boat", pp. 104-113 of  
HARPER'S MONTHLY MAGAZINE No. 199. December, 1866. NY: Harper &  
Brothers, 1866. FIRST EDITION. Softcover 4to (c. 25 x 17 cm) in  
original printed wraps.

While in the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii), Twain met some of the  
survivors of the Hornet, a clipper ship that had burned. Returning to  
California in August, 1866, he wrote up their tale as "Forty-Three  
Days in an Open Boat" which was published by Harper's in December, the  
first piece of his to appear in a national periodical. More than  
thirty years later, Twain recounted the writing of the story in "My  
Debut as a Literary Person" (Century Magazine, 1889).

Published anonymously, the story is most commonly found — and even  
then, not very often — in the annual bound volume of issues, in which  
the little-known author was misidentified as "Mark Swain" in the table  
of contents. Some toning, light spotting and wear to the wraps, rear  
cover with mild rubbing and chips and nicks to the edges; small bit of  
paper loss from foot of spine, not affecting the spine lettering;  
contents with a few small spots, occasional traces of light foxing to  
the margins, a few leaves with some browning and short nicks to the  
untrimmed edges (none of this affecting the Twain story); otherwise  
clean and very sound, front and rear covers secure, binding firm. An  
uncommonly good example of a very uncommon early Twain title. Comes in  
a protective clamshell folder.