Humor from Sumner & Stillman

1877. Presented by Enoch Morgan's Sons Co., New York. Five Points NY: Donaldson Brothers, n.d. [1877]. Original light blue wrappers decorated in black and sepia. First Edition of this illustrated poem -- quite possibly an earlier state than either of those documented by Blanck. Written as hack-work at a time when Harte badly needed cash, this is his… Read more about this item

1876. With Nine Illustrations by Henry Holiday. London: Macmillan and Co., 1876. 1 page undated ads. Original deep red cloth pictorially decorated in black, all page edges gilt. First Edition, special dark-red binding, which consisted of 100 copies. This is a poetical nonsense tale, both funny and subtle, that "describes with infinite humour the impossible voyage of an… Read more about this item

1877. Boston: James R. Osgood and Company, 1877. Original terra-cotta cloth decorated in black. First "Collectible" Edition of this play first performed in 1851. We say first "collectible" because there are only four known copies of the original 1851 pamphlet; supposedly a fifth, from which Osgood printed this edition, was destroyed in the Boston fire of 1879. This… Read more about this item

1867. Skaggaddahunk: Scantlewood, Timberlake & Co., Printers to the North River Society 1867. 12-page booklet without wrappers. First (undoubtedly only) Edition of this diatribe in verse form, criticizing both the United States and Dickens's 1867 reading tour of America. The author's name, the publisher, and the location are all fictitious. The first four lines are: All hail, Charles… Read more about this item

1894. Shannon, Charles. London: John Lane at the Sign of the Bodley Head, 1894. 16 pp ads dated March 1894. Original violet cloth decorated in gilt. First Edition of Wilde's satirical play about upper-class social scandal, which consisted of 500 copies (so stated -- half as many copies as the following year's THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST). Wilde… Read more about this item

1919. New York: Boni and Liveright, 1919. Original yellow-orange boards with white cloth spine, with dust jacket. First Edition, being the fifth volume in Boni & Liveright's "Penguin Series." Published nine years after his death, this is one of Twain's few books that appeared under his real name, without mention of his well-known pseudonym. Most of these seventeen… Read more about this item

1884. Illustrated by F. Opper, of "Puck." New York and Chicago: Belford, Clarke & Co., 1884. Original light brown wrappers stamped in black. First Edition of this volume of humor, by a 19th-Century master of that genre. Nye (1850-1896) was born in very rural Maine, he grew up and was educated in northern Wisconsin, and he settled in… Read more about this item

1872. being a description of the Leading Business Houses, Manufactories, Inventions, Etc. of the Pacific Coast, together with Copious and Readable Selections, chiefly from California Writers. Compiled by J. Price and C.S. Haley. San Francisco: Francis & Valentine..., 1872. Original dark olive cloth, with "Tales, Sketches, Poetry and Music" in gilt on the front cover. First Appearance in… Read more about this item

1871. Or, The Adventures of a Young Gentleman in Search of a Religion. By Mr. Benjamins (Bret Harte...). London: John Camden Hotten, n.d. [1871]. 2 pp preliminary ads plus 8 pp terminal ads dated "for 1872." Original glazed printed wrappers. First Separate Edition of this parody of Benjamin Disraeli's 1870 novel LOTHAIR. It was in 1871 that the… Read more about this item

1877. Boston: James R. Osgood and Company, 1877. Original terra-cotta cloth decorated in black. First "Collectible" Edition of this play first performed in 1851. We say first "collectible" because there are only four known copies of the original 1851 pamphlet; supposedly a fifth, from which Osgood printed this edition, was destroyed in the Boston fire of 1879. This… Read more about this item

1871. New York: Sheldon & Company, n.d. [1871]. Original printed wrappers. First Edition, second state (with the Ball Black & Co. ad on the inside front cover) of this comically-illustrated burlesque. This title was also issued in cloth. This is a near-fine copy (very little wear other than one small corner chip in the front wrapper, faint damp-mark… Read more about this item