Mark Twain and Mussolini. By Cyril Clemens. First Edition, First Printing. International Mark Twain Society. Webster Groves, 1934.

Mark Twain, often considered the Father of American Literature, led a full and enigmatic life. He was an acclaimed author of novels and travelogues, but also a riverboat captain, a prospector, a journalist, a public speaker, an inventor, and a publisher. Two decades after his death, a distant cousin, Cyril Clemens, founded the International Mark Twain Society as a way to celebrate and study Twain’s life. It was a popular organization in the mid-twentieth century. In this volume, Cyril Clemens provides what was meant to be the first volume in a biographical series. It contains anecdotes of Cyril Clemens’ meetings with various prestigious Twain Society members, including Mussolini and Franklin D. Roosevelt. It is a gloating little volume, one revealing Cyril’s own obsession with celebrity and status, and has very little to do with Twain himself. The Mussolini section is particularly bizarre. In it, Clemens gushes over Italy’s fascist dictator. The society had awarded Mussolini the Mark Twain Medal in 1930. For what reason aside from Cyril Clemens’ own preferences, the text does not make known.

This first edition, first printing is in very good condition. In the original red cloth, about-fine with only bumping to corners and spine ends. Text block fine. In the original dust jacket, very good with some chipping, soiling, and closed tears. Housed in a quarter leather custom slipcase.

A scarce first edition from the International Mark Twain Society.