The Innocents Abroad; or, The New Pilgrim's Progress, Being Some Account of the Steampship "Quaker City's" Pleasure Excursion to Europe and the Holy Land
New York: The Limited Editions Club, printed at The Thistle Press, 1962. Kredel, Fritz. Limited Edition. Hardcover. No. 106 of 1500 copies, quarto size, 518 pp., signed by Fritz Kredel, with slipcase. Near fine. Item #19030205
Mark Twain (1835-1910, born Samuel Langhorne Clemens) truly needs no introduction; his many stories have become part of American culture - in fact, "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" is often referred to as "the great American novel". "The Innocents Abroad" documents Twain's travels on the ship "Quaker City", with many stops along the Mediterranean Sea, and ending with an excursion through the Holy Land; written with Twain's typical humour, the book records his observations of the places he travels, as well as lampoons travelogues of the day and the often-ostentatious language they employed.
Throughout the volume are illustrations by German-American artist and graphic designer Fritz Kredel (1900-1973), whose coloured ink drawings bring to life Twain's descriptions of the people and places he encounters.
___DESCRIPTION: Quarter red cloth with marbled paper boards, gilt illustration on the spine with black leather label with gilt rules and lettering, top edge stained red, title page with colour illustration by Fritz Kredel, colour line-and-wash drawings by Kredel throughout; monotype Plantin, Curtis toned laid paper, quarto size (10" b y 6.75"), pagination: [i-iv] v-xi [xii-xvi] xvii [xviii] [1-2] 3-499 [1 colophon], one of 1500 numbered copies, signed by Fritz Kredel on the colophon. Housed in a slipcase covered in purple paper, with a red paper spine label with lettering and rules in black.
___CONDITION: A near fine copy and could almost be deemed fine; the covers clean, the corners straight and unrubbed, the binding tight with solid hinges, the interior clean and bright, and free of prior owner markings; with few light spots to the top edge of the text block and the spine lightly sunned, else fine. The slipcase also near fine, strong and sturdy, clean overall with a few light, stray marks (mostly on the bottom), the spine and top edge are sunned.
___CITATION: LEC no. 332.
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Price: $75.00