TOM SAWYER ABROAD.
With 26 Illustrations by Dan Beard. London: Chatto & Windus, 1894. 32 pp ads dated Feb 1894. Original red cloth pictorially decorated in black.
First English Edition, apparently published one day after the American (though this is far from certain). Narrated by Huck Finn (in fact the American edition reads "By Huck Finn" on the title page), Tom, Huck and Jim travel about the world in a self-propelled balloon. Twain was trying to cash in on the popularity of Jules Verne (just as this book's sequel, TOM SAWYER DETECTIVE, would try to cash in on the popularity of Sherlock Holmes).
This copy is in the primary (red pictorial) binding -- showing our heroes drifting by in their balloon while four lions jump up at them from the ground -- and has the proper February 1894 ads. This is a bright copy -- close to fine, with scarcely any soil or wear (as usual the volume is slightly aslant). In our experience this English edition is scarcer than the American. Blanck 3440 (note); McBride p. 163. Item #15895
Price: $425.00