First edition of Twain's final travel book, following his lecture tour through Hawaii, Australia and the South Pacific, India, and South Africa, an unusually bright copy.
Near fine.
Price: $1,000.00
"I wrote my last travel-book in hell; but I let on, the best I could, that it was an excursion through heaven." – Letter from Twain to William Dean Howells
Best known for his children's books today, in his own lifetime Twain achieved fame first through his travel writing. FOLLOWING THE EQUATOR makes an interesting companion to the earlier travel writings, beginning with INNOCENTS ABROAD (1869), his most popular book at the time. Here Twain offers characteristically witty and cutting Gilded Age opinions with the confidence of an established humor writer and veteran voyager. While already famous by this time, Twain booked the tour of worldwide lectures and planned this book because he was in fact deeply in debt. The success of EQUATOR did indeed put him back in the black. A heavy book, over 700 pages on thick paper, it is usually found in rough condition: this is a beautiful copy.
Read more: The Routledge Encyclopedia of Mark Twain; McBride, Mark Twain: A Bibliography; Blanck, Bibliography of American Literature (BAL), 3451.
First issue. Hartford, Connecticut: The American Publishing Company, 1897. Octavo. 8.75'' x 6''. Original blue cloth stamped with light blue and gilt, pictorial paste-on, gilt-stamped spine. Illustrated throughout, with many full-page plates. 712 pages. Light rubbing to paste-on, mild shelf soil to top edge. A strong copy with tight hinges: fresh cloth, gilt bright, clean interior.
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