Lot Details
Lot 248
TWAIN, MARK (SAMUEL LANGHORNE CLEMENS) What is Man?
New York: Printed at the DeVinne Press, 1906. First edition, number 42 of 250 copies, second issue with page 131 a cancel as usual. Original boards with spine label, slipcase. 9 1/8 x 6 inches; 140 pp., the title in red and black. Small loss at headcap and the front joint fully split with some paper loss, the rear joint splitting at foot, the covers lightly soiled, some light thumbsoiling and spots, worthy of restoration, with the ink signature to the front blank of A. B. MacDonald.
A rare Twain title printed at the DeVinne Press and privately distributed. Published the year of Twain's death, he was only personally able to present 24 copies. What is Man? would not be published under Twain's name until 1910. The book is infrequently at auction and we trace few copies sold in recent decades. This volume was likely owned by the American journalist and Pulitzer Prize winning Kansas City Star reporter Alexander Black MacDonald (1871-1942).
C The Julius and Theodore Cohn Library
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