London: Chatto & Windus, 1884. First edition. True first edition, preceding the US edition by approximately four months. A Nearly Fine copy in the original red cloth stamped in gilt and black. Slight fading to the spine, short tear to the contents (leaf xiii-xiv) professionally repaired, otherwise an excellent copy overall. With the correct, first issue ads, dated October 1884. Housed in a custom clamshell box.

Recounting the adventures of Huckleberry Finn as he flees his own abusive father and aids Jim in his escape from slavery, Twain's novel has been praised for its "distinctly American voice," putting at its center two common people who find an uncommon friendship. "Today perhaps the novel’s greatest significance lies in its conception of childhood, as a time of risk, discovery, and adventure. Huck is no innocent: He lies, steals, smokes, swears, and skips school. He accepts no authority, not from his father or the Widow Douglas or anyone else. And it is the twin images of a perilous, harrowing odyssey of adventure and perfect freedom from all restraints that so many readers find entrancing" (Mintz). A metaphor for a young and rebellious nation, as well as its individualist inhabitants, Huckleberry Finn defies genre by being simultaneously an adventure story, a road novel, a coming of age tale, an expression of nostalgia for the expansive natural spaces lost to industrialization, and an exploration of race and class. Listed on the American Scholar 100 Best American Novels and one of the 100 Best Novels Written in English.

BAL 3415. MacDonnell, 31. Near Fine (Item #5441)