Life on the Mississippi - photo 1
Life on the Mississippi - photo 2
Life on the Mississippi - photo 3
Life on the Mississippi - photo 4

Life on the Mississippi

Lot 156
15.06.2023 10:00UTC -05:00
Classic
Sold
$ 52 920
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUSA, New York
Archive
The auction is completed. No bids can be placed anymore.
Archive
ID 967688
Lot 156 | Life on the Mississippi
Estimate value
$ 20 000 – 30 000
Life on the Mississippi

Mark Twain, 1883

CLEMENS, Samuel (“Mark Twain,” 1835-1910). Life on the Mississippi. Boston: James R. Osgood, 1883. [With:] The Suppressed Chapter of “Life on the Mississippi.” N.p., n.d. [c.1931].



Presentation copy of the first edition, first state, inscribed to friend Edwin Pond Parker: “with kindest regards of Mark Twain,” with a rare copy of the suppressed chapter celebrating the end of slavery. The first state features the tail-piece on p. 441 of Twain and an urn marked “M.T.” engulfed by flames, which his wife thought “morbid” and requested be removed, and the illustration on p. 443 mis-captioned “St. Louis Hotel.” Chapter 31 contains the first use of fingerprints to solve a crime in fiction, described by Colin Wilson as "a remarkable anticipation of a scientific discovery that was then known to less than half a dozen men." See the illustration on p. 346 for an illustration of the thumbprints used to solve the crime. See Queen's Quorum, p.45 (note).



Edwin Pond Parker (1836-192) was a clergyman and longtime friend of the author. A member of the Friday Night Club, Pond Parker contributed to the Hartford Courant wherein appeared his favorable review of Clemens’s The Prince and the Pauper in 1881. His son, Edwin Pond Parker II, was the first husband of well-known poet, satirist, and screenwriter Dorothy Parker (1893-1967).



The suppressed Chapter 48 has appeared only five times at auction according to RBH. It was removed because it was seen as offensive to the white Southern book buyer, due to Twain’s critique of racial and political injustice in the South following the abolition of slavery. Forgotten until after Twain’s death, it was rediscovered circa 1910. “During the chapter’s journey to its last resting-place in a famous collection, a copy of it was made without a ‘by your leave’… and this petty piracy resulted in the production of a little printed leaflet, which is at present fluttering through the book-collecting world commanding a fictious price” (Ticknor). BAL 4111; BAL 3519; Johnson, 41-43. See Colin and Damon Wilson's Written in Blood (2003) and Caroline Ticknor, “Mark Twain’s Missing Chapter” in The Bookman xxxix, (May, 1914).



Octavo (220 x 138mm). Wood-engraved frontispiece, plates, and numerous in-text illustrations (thumbed, minor stains, about 5 leaves with repairs to blank edges­). Original brown cloth stamped with black and gold, the front cover with a gilt stamped image of a “roustabout” on a bale in the upper left; spine gilt stamped, light brownish-grey endpapers (neatly rebacked preserving original spine and endpapers); modern brown quarter morocco box and chemise with suppressed chapter laid in: bifolium (215 x 140mm), in a modern brown chemise. No. 116 of 250.

Artist:Mark Twain (1835 - 1910)
Auction house category:Printed books
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
20 Rockefeller Plaza
10020 New York
USA
Preview
15.06.2023
Phone +1 212 636 2000
Fax +1 212 636 4930
Email
4FQ.AYGKAGLUQ@FO3G@
Conditions of purchaseConditions of purchase
Shipping Postal service
Courier service
pickup by yourself
Payment methods Wire Transfer
Business hoursBusiness hours
Mo 09:30 – 17:00   
Tu 09:30 – 17:00   
We 09:30 – 17:00   
Th 09:30 – 17:00   
Fr 09:30 – 17:00   
Sa closed
Su closed

More from Creator

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
$13 000
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
$100
The Prince and the Pauper, on china paper
The Prince and the Pauper, on china paper
$100
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
$15 000
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
$18 000
Grant's Memoirs, Inscribed to Capt. Frank Mason
Grant's Memoirs, Inscribed to Capt. Frank Mason
$100
The Prince and the Pauper
The Prince and the Pauper
$1 000
The Gilded Age
The Gilded Age
$20 000

Related terms

Frequently asked questions

First of all, you should register to be able to purchase at auction. After confirming your email address, enter your personal information in your user profile, such as your first name, last name, and mail address. Choose a lot from the upcoming auction and the maximum amount you want to place on it. After confirmation of your choice, we will send your application by e-mail to the appropriate auction house. If the auction house accepts a request, it will participate in the auction. You can view the current status of a bid at any time in your personal account in the "Bids" section.
Auctions are performed by auction houses and each of the auction houses describes their terms of auction. You can see the texts in the section "Auction information".
The results of the auction are published within a few days after the end of the auction. In the top menu of the site, find the tab "Auctions". Click on it and you will be on the auction catalog page, where you can easily find the category "Results". After opening it, select the desired auction from the list, enter and view the current status of the interested lot.
The information about the auction winners is confidential. The auction winner will receive a direct notification from the auction house responsible with instructions for further action: an invoice for payment and the manner in which the goods will be received.
Each of the auction houses has its own payment policy for the won lots. All auction houses accept bank transfers, most of them accept credit card payments. In the near future you will find detailed information for each case in the section "Auction information" on the page of the auction catalog and the lot.
Shipment of the won lot depends on its size. Small items can be delivered by post. Larger lots are sent by courier. Employees of the auction houses will offer you a wide range to choose from.
No. The archive serves as a reference for the study of auction prices, photographs and descriptions of works of art.
?>