An Excellent Copy of Twain's Hefty Travelogue, with The Publisher's Prospectus (Owned by a Poor Salesman)

FOLLOWING THE EQUATOR, A JOURNEY AROUND THE WORLD. [with] A SALESMAN'S PROSPECTUS FOR "FOLLOWING THE EQUATOR."

(SALESMEN'S DUMMY). [CLEMENS, SAMUEL L.]. "MARK TWAIN," (Pseudonym).

(Hartford, Connecticut: The American Publishing Company, 1897). 235 x 158 mm. (9 1/4 x 6"). 712 pp. Prospectus: 12, [52], 4 pp., [16] leaves (irregularly paginated, as always). Two volumes, one a publisher's prospectus for the other. FIRST EDITION, issue with single imprint on title and without signature "11" to p. 161 (no priority established).

Publisher's blue buckram, front board with color panel featuring an Indian elephant, smooth spine with gilt arabesque decoration and lettering. Prospectus with similar front board, rear board with gilt backstrip design of published (cloth) volume running vertically up the center, flat unlettered spine. With 191 black & white illustrations, 59 of them full-page. Prospectus with five black & white plates (including frontispiece), 29 full-page illustrations (a mix of photo reproductions and lithographs), and numerous illustrations in the text. Without the plate showing Twain with his wife and daughter, which he had removed. Title page printed in green and black. Front pastedown of Prospectus with spine specimens of brown long-grain library style leather and deluxe red pebble-grain turkey half morocco (the facing page explaining the virtues and values of each). BAL 3451. Prospectus with extremities a bit rubbed, hinges partly cracked (but boards firmly attached), first leaf (with binding descriptions) heavily offset from the acidic leather spine specimens mounted opposite (and with three-inch closed tear from tail edge), three other leaves with minor tears; some wear and tear, but still sound and appealing, especially given how the volume was used. The main volume with uniform sunning to spine, light rubbing to extremities and to color panel on front cover, yellowing at edges of text (as, no doubt, in all copies) because of paper stock, but an unusual copy for being largely free from signs of use--the substantial volume completely solid, and quite clean and fresh internally.

This is a special combination of a copy of Twain's account of his classic tour around the world and the salesman's prospectus that provided a potential buyer with a pre-publication sample of content and a choice of available bindings. Undertaken by the author in order to relieve himself from the financial burden of bad investments a few years earlier, "Following the Equator" is part travelogue and part social commentary, with the occasional piece of fiction mixed in for good measure. As was the custom with many books issued by The American Publishing Company, this copy was sold, not through bookstores, but rather by subscription, using a national network of sales representatives. From town to town they tramped, from city to city they canvassed, door-to-door salesmen carrying with them abridged samples--like the present item--of the books they had for sale. This example contains specimen text, illustrations, binding options and prices, a prospectus, and subscription ledger. Fortunately for us--if not for him--our anonymous salesman did little to deserve that title, the subscription ledger being without any orders. The salesman's failure is a piece of good fortune for us, as it limited the wear and tear to the prospectus. The original subscriber chose the basic cloth binding, which has held up surprisingly well for a book of this heft. Salesman's dummies show up from time to time, but, for whatever reason, they seldom are offered along with the full-blown published volume. (ST20083)

Price: $4,500.00