PBA Galleries

[1] ad, 198 pp. (12mo) 17x11 cm (6¾x4¼") original plum cloth with gilt frog at center of front cover and matching frog in blind at center of rear cover. First Edition, First Issue.

First issue of the author's first book, with the leaf of ads facing the title page and with unbroken type on pages 21, 66 and 198. "Perhaps no short sketch of Twain's so quickly won wide popularity as did 'The Jumping Frog.' Calaveras County, California, is known to thousands who have never seen the Golden State simply because of this gem of humor. This little volume, the author's first published book, came into being under the sponsorship of Charles Henry Webb-who also edited it under his pseudonym of 'John Paul.' To accompany 'The Jumping Frog' he chose twenty-six other sketches, of which at least two, 'Curing a Cold' and 'The Story of the Bad Little Boy Who Didn't Come to Grief,' later attained the distinction of being incorporated into recitation books for the delectation of even wider audiences" (Zamorano Eighty). BAL 3310; Zamorano Eighty 17.