Roughing It. By Mark Twain. Signed by Noel Sickles. Signed Limited Edition. Limited Editions Club. New York, 1972.

Roughing It contains some of Mark Twain’s best travel and humor writing. It is also a revealing book that captures the vibrancy of the American West from Twain’s lived experiences. It was first published in 1872 as the prequel to Twain’s tremendously popular The Innocents Abroad. By then, his humor was well regarded, and so East Coast readers delighted in Roughing It’s satirical tones, especially where it describes the burgeoning communities and colonization of the West. While often classified as non-fiction, Roughing It plays with truth in ways quintessential to Twain’s other works. The text covers his time traveling from Missouri to the Nevada Territory, and his visit to Hawaii, with scenes drawn from other sources, not just his life. Among Twain’s works, it ranks high as one of the books that defined his legacy. This signed limited edition brings the text into the twentieth century with Noel Sickles’ colorful illustrations.

This signed limited edition is signed by Sickles on the colophon. It is $1,466 of 1,500 copies. It is in fine condition. In the original quarter cloth, fine. Text block fine. In the original slipcase, about-fine with only minor fading and soiling.

A fine LEC edition of Roughing It.