IN AFTER DAYS - Rare Book Insider
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Howells, William Dean

IN AFTER DAYS

  • $500
[Howells, William Dean] IN AFTER DAYS. New York:Harper, 1910. First edition, primary binding.Original lavender linen, gilt, t.e.g. Even fadingof spine, else a bright fine copy, signed by sixof the nine contributors for John Pearsons:William Dean Howells, Thomas Wentworth Higginson,William Hanna Thomson, Henry Mills Alden, JohnBigelow, and Guglielmo Ferrero. Not signed byHenry James, Julia Ward Howe, or Elizabeth StuartPhelps (and it's probably too late to obtain theirsignatures). Three have signed on the frontflyleaf with quotations from their essays,personal inscription, and dates. Howells,Higginson, and Johnson have signed their essays inthe book (pp. 3, 133, and 153) and Howells wroteout a wonderful seven line inscription with aquote from his essay, dating it in Bermuda onMarch 4, 1911. Copies are typically found invarious later state bindings lettered in black(quarter red cloth, blue, green cloth, etc.). Thisinteresting collection of essays on the after-lifeis rarely found inscribed by any of thecontributors. BAL 10670, 9798, 8498, etc. Edel &Laurence B29.
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TICKET GOOD FOR STEAMSHIP AMERICA, SAN FRANCISCO TO NEW YORK

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
  • $65