Books

First edition, first issue, of Mark Twain's first book. "Copies were bound simultaneously in green, terra cotta, dark brown, lavender, blue, deep purple, maroon and red cloth" (MacDonnell, "The Primary First Editions of Mark Twain", Firsts, Vol. 8, no. 7/8). This copy features the gilt stamp of the leaping frog positioned to the lower left of the front cover as usual (some copies have the gilt stamp of the leaping frog in the centre of the front cover, though no priority has been established between the two); it has all of the points of a first issue as delineated by BAL. "Mark Twain wrote his story of the jumping frog... at the invitation of Artemus Ward (Charles Farrar Browne), his friend and the most popular American humorist of the day, to help fill out a volume of humorous sketches that Ward was editing. Fortuitously, and fortunately for Twain, the frog story arrived too late for inclusion in Ward's book; it was published instead as 'Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog' in the New York Saturday Press on 18 November 1865. It was soon reprinted in newspapers and comic periodicals throughout the nation, was pirated by Beadle's Dime Books, and was later collected with a new title in The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County and other Sketches (1867). This humorous short story brought Twain his first popular acclaim and has proven to be his first literary masterpiece" (W. Craig Turner in The Mark Twain Encyclopaedia, 1993, pp. 133-5). Small octavo. Original red cloth over bevelled boards, gilt lettered spine, front cover lettered in gilt with gilt stamp of jumping frog to lower left and blind to rear cover, brown coated endpapers. Housed in a custom black cloth slipcase. Single advert leaf on cream-yellow paper inserted between the preliminary flyleaf and title. Bookseller's ticket to rear pastedown. Spine sometime cleaned, gilt retouched, a few marks to cloth, light wear to extremities, small superficial split to foot of front inner hinge, entirely sound, foxing to outer leaves, otherwise clean. A just about very good copy. BAL 3310.

The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, also known as 'The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County' is an 1865 short story by Mark Twain. It was his first great success as a writer and brought him national attention. The story is set in a gold-mining camp in Calaveras County, California, and the plot revolves around a jumping frog contest. Twain's narrative follows the gambler Jim Smiley, who has a frog that can jump higher than any other frog. This humorous tale is also known for its colorful characters, including the narrator, who is drawn into the story by the loquacious storyteller, Simon Wheeler.