Concerning Cats, Two Tales by Mark Twain (A Cat Tale and The Autobiography of Belshazzar)
San Francisco: The Book Club of California, printed by The Grabhorn Press for The Colt Press, 1959. Limited Edition. Hardcover. One of 450 copies, quarto size, 47 pp. Near fine. Item #260827003
Two of Mark Twain's lesser-known (and we believe neglected) short stories about cats, for whose company he had a preference over that of humankind. This work by the Grabhorn Press/Colt Press/ BCC was the first published appearance of these tales, except for a part of the first paragraph of "A Cat Tale", which was quoted, with changes, by Albert Bigelow Paine in "Mark Twain, A Biography".
Includes two sketches of cats by Twain interspersed with the text of the first tale (the only known examples of pictorial art by Twain), and two little-known photographs, one of Twain, with cats (of course), and the other of his three young daughters.
A charming book with playful cats dancing across the margins of every page and an indomitable mouse on the colophon page. Designed by Jane Grabhorn of the Colt Press, and so well represents the wit and humour of one of America's greatest story-tellers.
___DESCRIPTION: Cream paper boards decorated with black cats and red flowers, with a black cloth shelfback, paper label on the spine with gilt lettering and a cat also in gilt, fore- and bottom edges rough-cut, frontispiece a photograph of Mark Twain holding a kitten, title page in red and black the lettering from an alphabet designed by Mallette Dean, each page of the text for the two tales has the silhouette of a cat (designed by Mallette Dean) with an arched back in the margin, the first word in the first tale and the first line in the second tale in red, hand-lettered by Mallette Dean, colophon in grey and red; type Elzevir handset, binding quarto size (11 1/2" by 8 7/8"), pagination: [i]-xvi, [1]-29, [1, blank], [1, Colophon page], limited edition of 450 copies, unnumbered, printed by The Grabhorn Press for the Colt Press in 1959 and sold at the time for $15.00.
___CONDITION: Near fine; the binding clean (other than a few light spots) and without wear, the corners straight and unrubbed, a strong, square text block with solid hinges, the interior clean and bright, and free of prior owner markings; the spine slightly sunned and offsetting to the pastedown endpapers. Lacking the original plain tan dust wrapper.
___CITATIONS: Grabhorn Press Bibliography no. 610, BCC no. 102, Hawk no. 357.
___POSTAGE: International customers, please note the following: (i) additional postage may apply as the standard does not always cover costs, please inquire for details; and (ii) any taxes, duty, or tariffs charged by your country will, of necessity, be your responsibility.
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Price: $200.00