PRINCE AND THE PAUPER by Twain, Mark [Clemens, S. L.]

Twain, Mark [Clemens, S. L.] THE PRINCE AND THE PAUPER. New York: Charles L. Webster, 1887. First edition, second state of text, later issue with cancel title-page with Webster imprint. Original green cloth, gilt, with Webster imprint at foot. Some light rubbing, else a very good copy. This is the second of the Webster re-issues using unsold sheets of the first edition of this title (the first re-issue was in 1885). In 1884, after Osgood went bankrupt, Webster took over the unsold sheets of all of Twain's Osgood printings and re-issued this title with cancel title-pages. From Osgood, Webster obtained 4,550 unfolded sets of sheets of THE PRINCE AND THE PAUPER, 50 folded sets of sheets, and 266 bound copies. Webster reprinted this book from the original plates in 1889, 1890, and 1891, and in 1892 issued a new edition from new plates. Oddly, this 1887 re-issue of THE PRINCE AND THE PAUPER is unrecorded, but BAL does note one of the similar Webster re-issues of Osgood's sheets of LIFE ON THE MISSISSIPPI (1891), in which Webster used a cancel title-page on first edition sheets, exactly as he did here. Peter Parley to Penrod, pp. 65-6. BAL 3402.