Books (signed)

Item Description

Be one of only 200 private collectors or institutions to claim this for their library!

The Innocents Abroad was printed in an edition of 200 on Johannot, set in Monotype Bell, and re-spaced manually. It has 445 text pages plus 20 pages of illustrations in two volumes which are each 7 3/4 by 11 1/4 inches. The non-adhesive binding with exposed spine sewing consists of 7 black double raised cords attached to hard covers wrapped in red cloth. The two volumes are in turn housed in a black and white linen covered hard case wrapper with black leather straps over brass studs, intended to suggest a portmanteau.

The Innocents Abroad was designed by Bob McCamant and printed by Martha Chiplis. The binding was designed and executed by Trisha Hammer. It is numbered and signed by the artist and bookmakers, and was published in 1998.

The Innocents Abroad:   This is Mark Twain's travelogue in a new release, with text following a copy of the first edition in the possession of Northwestern University Library, and cartoon illustrations by Heather McAdams.

"The people of those foreign countries are very, very ignorant. They looked curiously at the costumes we had brought from the wilds of America. They observed that we talked loudly at table sometimes. They noticed that we looked out for expenses and got what we conveniently could out of a franc, and wondered where in the mischief we came from. In Paris they just simply opened their eyes and stared when we spoke to them in French! We never did succeed in making those idiots understand their own language."

So wrote Mark Twain in 1867, in one of his most exuberant nonfiction works. The companion themes that fill it—the shallowness of the sites to be visited and the shallowness of the visitors—prove to be prophetic of tourism today, as revealed in Heather McAdams’ 1995 cartoons, completed for this edition.

Item Special Note

Established in 1984, Sherwin Beach Press is a small fine press specializing in nonfiction prose. Thus far we have completed seven books, The Essence of Beeing by Michael Lenehan; Within the Context of No Context by George Trow; $144 a Month by Steve Bogira; The Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain; Ballet for Opening Day by Nelson Algren; Poisonous Plants at Table, featuring "Prudence: The Cautionary Tale of a Picky Eater," by Audrey Niffenegger; and Saving His Life by Lee Sandlin.

All of our books have been hand printed and hand bound. Three have been hand set, and four have been set by Monotype composition.

Sherwin Beach Press books have been widely exhibited in places like Santa Cruz, California; Verona, Italy; and Portland, Oregon. Some of the libraries which hold our books are Northwestern University, Stanford University, University of Chicago, National Library of New Zealand, University of Alberta, University of San Francisco, and University of Illinois at Chicago, as well as The Chicago Public Library, The Boston Public Library, The New York Public Library and The Library of Congress.

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Retail Price:  $1,200.00