C. A. Transit Company
[TWAIN, MARK] [Clemens, S. L.] C. A. TransitCompany. TICKET GOOD FOR STEAMSHIP AMERICA, SANFRANCISCO TO NEW YORK, VIA NICARAGUA. SanFrancisco, Central American Transit Company, 1866.Oblong printed ticket blank with stub stillattached (4 x 12 inches). Fine. On December 15,1866, Twain boarded the "America" in SanFrancisco, steamed to Nicaragua, arriving onDecember 30, crossed the Isthmus, and boarded the`San Francisco' and steamed on to New York,arriving on January 12, where he soon publishedhis first book and began in earnest his literarycareer. See Kaplan's MR. CLEMENS, MARK TWAIN (p.13-19, beginning on the first page of text) for agood account of this historic moment. Also seeMeltzer, MARK TWAIN HIMSELF (pp.80-1) for a copyof the newspaper printing of the `America's'passenger list including Twain among the eightypassengers, and an account of the trip. It was onthis voyage that Twain met Captain `Ned' Wakeman(see BAL 3379) who was the model for Ned Blakelyin ROUGHING IT (1872), Captain Saltmarsh in THEAMERICAN CLAIMANT (1892), Captain Stormfield in1909, etc. (cf. Kaplan, SINGULAR MARK TWAIN, p.169) and whom Twain recalled fondly in hisautobiography. This ticket is the earliestobtainable Twain-related California imprint, otherthan a couple of very rare newspapers. BAL listsonly two imprints for Twain earlier than thisticket, both published in New York: the first is aunique copy of an 1865 twilight book, the other an1866 booklet with a Twain contribution (only twocopies sold in the last fifteen years, each formore than
Jennings, John A
[Twain, Mark] [Clemens, S. L.] Jennings, John A.,ed. READINGS FROM AMERICAN AUTHORS. Dublin:Carson Brothers; London: Simpkin, Marshall & Co.[1884] First edition. Original yellow pictorialboards with Twain's profile portrait on frontcover. Spine lettering barely legible, but spineis wholy intact; some dust to covers, but a verygood copy otherwise, and unusually good for thisfragile and scare yellowback anthology. Thiscollection includes a broad selection of Americanwritings with a strong emphasis on humorists.Twain had visited Ireland in 1873, but this is anearly appearance of writings in Ireland, andsignificant because it features Twain on the frontcover. Eight pieces (all probably reprints) are byTwain, plus works of Will Carleton, Bret Harte,Artemus Ward, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Thomas BaileyAldrich, William Dean Howells, Max Adeler, JamesRussell Lowell, and even Edgar Allan Poe. Not inBAL, Johnson, et al. Topp, VIII:97(720).[a]
