Outstanding 4.25 x 6.5 cabinet photo of Samuel L. Clemens by Rockwood of New York, nicely signed and inscribed on the mount in ink, "Very truly yours, Mark Twain, To Miss Stickney, March 10/06.” In fine condition, with light scuffing to the front of the portrait, and old mounting remnants on the back. Augustus Allen Stickney (1833-1880) was a San Francisco publisher of the newspaper 'The Californian,' and as such became friends with Mark Twain, Henry George, and Bret Harte who was also editor of the newspaper. Mark Twain was hired to contribute one article per week, receiving $50 per month for his contributions. In total, Twain contributed approximately fifty articles that appeared in The Californian, several of which were collected and published in 1867 in The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, and Other Sketches- Mark Twain's first published book. Presumably, this photograph was inscribed to Augustus' wife, Belzora Ross Stickney (nee Clark).
Includes the first American edition of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, published in New York by Charles L. Webster and Company, 1885. Hardcover bound in the publisher's original green gilt-decorated pictorial cloth, 7 x 8.75, 366 pages. Lithographic frontispiece by E.W. Kemble, photographic portrait frontispiece of the bust of Mark Twain by Karl Gerhardt (BAL state 1), in-text illustrations throughout. This is an early state of the first American edition with the following issue points: first state portrait frontispiece; first state of p. 9 with "decided" for "decides"; first state of p. 13 with "Him and Another Man" plate incorrectly listed as being on p. 99; first state of p. 57 with "was" for "saw"; BAL third state of pagination on p. 155. BAL 3415. Book condition: G+/None, with extreme ends and fore-corners worn, small loss to spine near foot, hinges starting, light marginal stains on pp. 154-155, few leaves with offsetting, and a blank bookplate to front pastedown.
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