55. Clemens, Samuel L. Pudd’nhead Wilson’s Calendar for 1897. Dawson’s Landing, MO Set Up and Printed for Mr. Wilson by Henry Butts, 1894. (3 x 2.5 in.; 76 x 60 mm.) 16 pages. Unusually fine in printed yellow wrappers; contained in a fine crimson leather folding-case gilt.

Mark Twain’s smallest first edition, form C (no priority). Issued as an advertisement for The Century Magazine, which was running “Pudd’nhead Wilson” in serial form. The calendar may have been produced from multiple, not duplicate, settings, and it is possible that all three forms were issued simultaneously. Each month shows a droll paragraph from Mark Twain, such as the one that ends: “put all your eggs in one basket and--watch that basket.” Contains an illustration of “Thumb Prints” and a long quotation in which Pudd’nhead discusses the new method of detecting by means of fingerprints. The typesetting is intentionally and comically incompetent, with letters upside down.

A delightful, very rare, and fragile Twain item.
Reference: BAL 3439. $1,000 - $1,500