Unsigned first edition book: Eve's Diary by Mark Twain, with illustrations by Lester Ralph. First edition. London and New York: Harper & Brothers, 1906. Hardcover bound in original red pictorial cloth, stamped and lettered in white and green, with scarce original dust jacket, 5.5 x 8, 109 pages. Book condition: VG+/G, with moderate edge chipping, creasing, and a few small stains to the dust jacket.
Eve's Diary is a comic short story by Mark Twain, originally published in the 1905 Christmas issue of Harper's Bazaar magazine. The book version of the story was published by Harper & Brothers in 1906, featuring 55 illustrations by Lester Ralph depicting Adam and Eve in their natural settings. The portrayal of an unclothed woman was considered pornographic when the book was first released in the United States, leading to controversy and—in one case—banishment from a Massachusetts library.
