TO THE PERSON SITTING IN DARKNESS
New York: Anti-Imperialist League, 1901. First Separate Edition. First separate edition of Twain's essay, reprinted from the February, 1901 issue of the North American Review. Twain became the vice present of the Anti-Imperialist League of New York in 1901, an organization opposed to America's seizure of Spain's empire during the Spanish-American War. His essay was "an acid indictment of the brutalities the British, French, German, Russian, and American capitalist governments were committing all over the world. Twain ironically borrowed the title from the book of Matthew in the New Testament; the "person sitting in darkness" was a term then used frequently by missionaries when referring to the so-called uncivilized populations in lands being conquered" (Morgan, Marion. "Mark Twain: Words for Our Times." COMDweb, November-December, 2002). Merle Johnson notes that the League distributed 125,000 copies of the pamphlet as campaign literature, inferring that there must have been more than one printing; he also notes that at the time (1935) it was so scarce that he could give no hint of any distinction between printings. It remains an uncommon Twain item, with just two copies appearing at auction in the last 40 years (a compromised copy at Waverly in 1994, and a much better one at Swann in 1988). BAL 3470; Johnson, p.73. Item #7370
Slim octavo (16cm); original printed wrappers, stapled; 15,[1]pp. Early pictorial bookplate (Library of Byron Price) gently tipped onto the upper margin of p.2, light wear and handling, with mild dust-soil to wrappers; contents clean; Very Good+, housed in a custom quarter morocco slipcase and pull-tab chemise.
Price: $1,750.00