Life on the Mississippi. By Mark Twain. Signed by Thomas Hart Benton. Signed Limited Edition. Limited Editions Club. New York, 1944.

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 boyhood on the river through 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. In this signed limited edition, Twain’s classic is paired with exceptional illustrations by Thomas Hart Benton. It is one of the most desirable Limited Editions Club volumes. It contains some of Benton’s best work.

This signed limited edition is signed by Benton on the colophon. It is #953 of 1,200 copies. It is in very good condition. In the original quarter cloth, about-fine with only minor chipping and rubbing to spine. Text block fine. In the original clamshell box, very good with minor rubbing and soiling, faded edges, and some chipping to spine label.

A scarce LEC signed limited edition of Life on the Mississippi.