Life on the Mississippi. By Mark Twain. First Edition, Intermediate State A. Osgood & Co. Boston, 1883.

Perhaps no work captures the sentiments and influences that shaped Mark Twain’s cultural perspective more than Life on the Mississippi. It is part personal memoir, part history of the Father of Waters, with folkloric stories about the river and its inhabitants, and a narrative of Twain’s river life––from boyhood on the river to his years as a steamboat captain. One section of the work was serialized in 1875 by Atlantic Monthly under the title Old Times on the Mississippi. The full version was not released in book-form until 1883. By then, Twain’s acclaim as an author had been acknowledged globally, and Life on the Mississippi was a welcome glimpse into his origins and an homage to the river culture from which he came. It is an important part of his literary canon and a favorite among those who also know about this great American river.

This first edition, intermediate state A is in good condition. Recased in the original cloth boards, good with some bumping, rubbing, and soiling. Sympathetic repairs to cloth at corners. Text block good with only loose frontispiece page and glue residue to title page. Intermediate state A with illustration of Twain in flames still present on page 441, but illustration caption corrected to “St. Charles Hotel” on page 443.

A scarce first edition of Life on the Mississippi.