The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County and Other Sketches
New York: C.H. Webb, 1867. First Edition. 12mo (176 × 123mm), pp. [4], 198, [2]. His first book, first printing (only 1,000 copies), first binding (approximately the first 100 copies of the 1,000). Original brown cloth, one of seven colors with no established priority (green is the most common, accounting for more than half the edition). Early owner's name to the top blank margin of the title page, tiny nick to the front free endpaper; otherwise fine, crisp, and dazzling beyond reasonable expectation. B.A.L. 3310. Full morocco case.
Identifying the first printing is straightforward. Published in May 1867 at $1.25, all copies share four distinguishing points: a single ad leaf on yellow paper inserted before the title, an unbroken "1" in the folio on page 21, an unbroken "e" in "life" in the last line of page 66, and an unbroken "i" in "this" in the last line of page 198.
The first binding is equally unmistakable. It has the gilt-stamped frog centered on the front cover and oriented vertically (nose up), with the blind-stamped frog in the same position on the back cover. After Twain, Webb, and the on-site manager examined the first copies bound, the frog was promptly moved to the lower left corner and angled at 45°; a design preference to which all concerned agreed. Once repositioned, the frog remained in the corner throughout Webb's editions; this was not a random or alternating arrangement, as the second binding of the first printing, and all copies of the later printings, have the frog in the lower left corner. Item #1128
Considering the small print run, survivors of the first printing are not as scarce as one might extrapolate, but fine copies of the first printing are very scarce. Those that are fine and in the first binding, with the frog centered on the front cover, are rare. In the elusive brown cloth (representing roughly 10% of copies, most of which appear in the later binding with the frog in the corner) this copy brings together every desirable essential for Twain's first book. In this combination of virtues it is probably unmatched and certainly unsurpassable. The last first printing at auction in the first binding and brown cloth was twenty-three years ago, and it was heavily worn and defective, with broken hinges and artless recoloring.
Featuring the tale of Jim Smiley and his trained frog, Dan’l Webster, set in a California gold-mining camp. Exploring themes of the culture clash between the Easterners and Westerners, and deception as a characteristic of the opportunistic nature of human behavior, themes Twain would examine in throughout the rest of his career. There are 26 other stories, all sharply written, but it is the title story that endures as the archetypal California tale, introducing Twain to the country and gaving him access to the business of literature.
Price: $65,000.00