Autographs
"The Writings of Mark Twain" (Samuel Clemens) Harper & Brothers, N.Y. Rare 1929 "Stormfield Edition" Complete 37-Volume Monumental Set of MARK TWAIN'S WORKS
1929 Complete "Stormfield Edition" Set of Books titled: "The Writings of Mark Twain" by author (Samuel Clemens), by Harper & Brothers, N.Y., known as the "Stormfield Edition" Complete 37-Volume of this Monumental Set, with Original Dust Jackets, Choice Extremely Fine.
The rare "Stormfield Edition" complete with all 37-Volumes of, "The Writings of Mark Twain" by Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) (a.k.a. The Writings), Volumes Not Signed, New York: Harper & Brothers, 1929. This is a bright clean Full Set of the excellent gilt and untrimmed edge edition of Twain All with their rare original Dust Jackets.
This rare Stormfield Edition was limited to 1,024 numbered sets, consisting of thirty-seven octavo volumes, measuring about 9" x 6". This Set number 851 (of the 1,024 sets), indicated in the First Volume. Each book was bound in dark blue fine-bead cloth, with the cover featuring a gilt, triple-rule border and the gilt stencil signature of Mark Twain. The spines were lettered in gilt. The top edge of the pages was trimmed and gilt; the remaining edges are untrimmed. The title-pages are printed in red and black. The Volumes include photogravure frontispieces and plates and portraits based on drawings, and paintings by artists such as E.W. Kemble, Howard Pyle, Dan Beard, W.H.W. Bicknell, P. Newell, J. Allen St. John, A.B. Frost, and many others. Each book in this remarkable set is clothed in the original pale blue dust jackets with printed paper labels on the spine and a clear plastic, protective cover.
This a Complete Set of all 37-Volumes, including Twain's biography (Volumes 30-33) and edited letters (Volumes 34-35), as well as Twain's autobiography (Volumes 36-37). Accompanied by an undated letter sheet from the Heritage Book Shop of Los Angeles, CA. indicating our consignor's original purchase price of $6,000 years ago. We note a similar Stormfield Edition Set having been offered for sale for $5,500 but in far lesser quality, and having heavily worn, soiled, and toned dust jackets.
The Stormfield Edition of the Writings of Mark Twain, published in 1929 by Harper & Brothers, is identical in every way (with the exception of Twain's signature) to the Definitive Edition which had been published by Gabriel Wells in 1922. Both sets shared a Limited Edition of 1,024 numbered copies. Some collectors consider the full cloth binding on the Stormfield Edition to be superior to the quarter blue cloth over paper boards of the Definitive edition. Together with the original typed invoice from the Heritage Book Shop. (37 Volumes) Provenance Ex: Alexander Gaston Collection.
The Stormfield edition was named after Mark Twain's final home "The Clemens family was itinerant from 1891 until well after Olivia's death in 1904, trying out a number of houses, none of which they found ultimately congenial.
Fully out of debt, Clemens decided toward the end of his life to try and recover the feeling of stability that the Hartford home represented by building another house, this time in Redding, Connecticut, where he had purchased nearly 250 acres of land in 1906. In 1907, he commissioned John Mead Howells, son of William Dean Howells, to design the house, and allowed, or perhaps even encouraged, daughter Clara to participate in planning and overseeing construction.
Built on the money he earned on "Extract from Captain Stormfield's Visit to Heaven," he named the house "Stormfield" and lived there until his death in 1910. Clara sold the house many years after her father's death. When the house burned down, its owners built a near replica, which remains in private hands" (Camfield).