Product Type
Condition
Binding
Collectible Attributes
Seller Location
Seller Rating
Published by Peter Drozd Graphic Arts, Pittsfield, MA, 1999
ISBN 10: 0963337637ISBN 13: 9780963337634
Seller: Shaker Mill Books, W. Stockbridge, MA, U.S.A.
Book
Soft cover. Condition: As New. A bright, tight paperback edition w/ introduction by Paul Metcalf. Clean & sharp throughout.
Published by G. W. Carleton & Co., Publishers, NY, 1868
First Edition
Hardcover. Condition: Very good. 1st Edition. 263 pages. Corners bumped and rubbed; small rubbed area at bottom of spine near gutter; light foxing throughout; several small spots on front and back covers. Very good in green cloth. (041).
Published by John Camden Hotten, 1866
Seller: Hay-on-Wye Booksellers, Hay-on-Wye, HEREF, United Kingdom
Hard Cover. Condition: Poor. NO JACKET. Hard board/spine has some bumps, wear, marks, scratches and fading at parts. Fading at text blocks. Foxing/occasional marks/waving effect at pages. Text legible.
Published by G.W. Carleton & Co., Publishers, New York, New York, 1868
Seller: Barry Cassidy Rare Books, Sacramento, CA, U.S.A.
Book First Edition
Hardcover. Condition: Collectible-Very Good. Howard, J. H. (illustrator). First Edition. 263 pages; illustrations; green cloth binding with gilt lettering on the spine. The volume contains comic stories and jokes for the general reader in local dialect. Blanck - Bibliography of American Literature #17441. Very good clean copy.
Published by John Camden Hotten, US, 1866
Seller: Atlanta Vintage Books, Atlanta, GA, U.S.A.
Hardcover. Condition: Good. Dust Jacket Condition: No DJ. 1866 Edition bound in green leather. End papers and pages are heavily foxed, browned and soiled. First free end paper has some pencilled notes. Binding is tight, spine has slight lean. Boards are soiled, scuffed and rubbed. Wear to edges - scuffing and rubbing, spine ends are frayed, corners are bumped and scuffed exposing boards. Text block is soiled. PICTURES PROVIDED UPON REQUEST.
Published by American Publishing Company, Hartford, Conn., 1874
First Edition
Hardcover. Condition: Good +. 1st Edition. 617 pages plus ads. Binding is issue per BAL. Illustrated. Front cover has one small circular dark stain, 1/4", all edges show wear including along front gutter; corners bumped and rubbed. Good plus. (180).
Published by G.W. Carleton & Co, New York, 1876
Seller: Capitol Hill Books, ABAA, Washington, DC, U.S.A.
First Edition
Condition: Very Good-. New York: G.W. Carleton & Co., 1876. First Edition. Octavo; publisher's green blind-embossed cloth, gilt-lettered spine; xxxii,[33]-504pp.; engraved portrait frontispiece, text illus. throughout. Boards rather scuffed at extremities, fairly ubiquitous soil throughout textblock, stock uniformly toned; a Good to Very Good, sound example. Complete humoristic tales and vignettes by the American author and pal of Mark Twain's.
Published by G. W. Carleton & Co., New York, 1879
Seller: Diamond Island Books, Gorham, ME, U.S.A.
Book First Edition
Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. No Jacket. 1st Edition. Red cloth stamped and lettered in black and gold. Covers lightly and evenly soiled. Hinges strong and text block very clean. Internally clean and tight with no marks or inscriptions. Hard to find title.
Published by New York. Carleton, 1868
Seller: Riverby Books, Fredericksburg, VA, U.S.A.
Book
Soft cover. Condition: Very Good. Hardcover. Purple cloth with gold lettering on the spine. Blindstamped decorations on the boards. This copy has a bit of scruff at the crown of the spine, a short tear to the cloth at the top 2 inches of the rear hinge, and some freckles on the boards. Overall good condition, but showing age. Blue endpaper. Binding tight. Text block clean throughout. Title page dated 1868. Copyright page dated 1865. 232 pages + catalogue for Carleton's other books, dated 1869 (including Victor Hugo and Charlotte Bronte). Illustrated by Waggoner, Gunn, and others. This copy has two items affixed to the inside front cover with archival mylar corners. Cabinet card photograph of Billings above. Below, a card with Billings' signature beneath handwritten "There is cheats in all things - even poison is adulterated." No date on the card or the photograph. Billings was the pen name of Henry Wheeler Shaw. He was a successful lecturer, humorist, and writer in the decade after the Civil War. Like Mark Twain, he created a folksy American persona and often wrote in dialect. It was a formula that Twain would use as well. The two men followed similar career paths (Billings was 17 years older) and even collaborated on a book of collected humor. This reprint of "The Sayings" was published just a few months before their careers diverged for good. Twain's Innocence Abroad was published in 1869 - it was his first full length book - and with it Twain achieved a level of success that Billings never reached. Billings died in 1885. The cabinet card photograph in this volume is blank on the back. The image shows Billings with long hair, pointed mustache and beard, looking to the right wearing a dark suit with velvet collar, collared vest buttoned all the way up, and white shirt beneath, only the collar of which is visible. As was his trademark, he is not wearing a tie. It looks to be same outfit as the 1876 series of photographs by Gurney, but this angle is not as commonly found. Books signed by Billings are quite scarce - as are books with signature set into them (while admittedly not quite the same thing). Although Billings was surpassed and eventually all but eclipsed by Twain (and Harte), he helped to blaze the trail as lecturer, entertainer, folk hero and self-made man, creating an American trope that survives to this day. Please email with questions or to request photos.
First Edition
Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. [Twain, Mark] [Clemens, S. L.] Billings, Josh[Shaw, Henry Wheeler]. EVERYBODY'S FRIEND.Hartford: American Publishing Co., 1874. Firstedition. Original black cloth, gilt. Illustratedby Thomas Nast. Spine ends and corners frayed,else a very good copy. Includes the first bookprinting of Twain's letter to Billings making funof his spelling, at pages 573-75. Billings hadpublished this letter in his `Spice-Box' newspapercolumn in `The New York Weekly' in July, 1873.Early in his career Twain was influenced by thecomic writers known as the "Phunny Phellows"(Billings, Ward, etc.) but soon moved beyond theirtiresome bag of tricks that included phoneticspelling. BAL, Johnson, et al, overlooked thisTwain first book printing, although BAL doesrecord the book (BAL 17455) as a Shaw primaryedition.