Lot 48: CLEMENS, Samuel L. ("Mark Twain," 1835-1910). The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, and Other Stories. Edited by John Paul [Charles Henry Webb]. New York: C.H. Webb, 1867.

12 o. 1-page publisher's advertisement at front. (Small pale marginal dampstain at beginning.) Original plum bevelled cloth, with gilt frog at lower left corner of the front cover, blind impression in lower left corner of the rear cover, gilt-lettered on front cover and spine (recased preserving original endpapers, few repairs along spine and joints); polished calf slipcase. Provenance : Lizzie C. Bayley (signature dated 1884 on front flyleaf). FIRST EDITION OF THE AUTHOR'S FIRST BOOK, FIRST ISSUE, with the leaf of ads and unbroken type on pages 21, 66 and 198. Queen notes that Twain's first book is the "first important foreshadowing of crime-in-the-ascendancy in the short story... This acknowledged classic of legend and folklore is an early example of the confidence game in fiction. If this statement surprises you, reread Mark Twain's tale of trickery and ask yourself: When the slick stranger filled Jim Smiley's frog, Dan'l Webster, full of quail-shot, wasn't he really playing a clever skin game?" ( Queen's Quorum 7). BAL 3310; Seven Gables First Books 58.