Mark Twain in German-Language Newspapers and Periodicals

Book Editions | Chatto and Windus De Luxe Edition

In 1899, Mark Twain started his plans to publish a deluxe edition of his works. Parallel to an American edition published by the American Publishing Company, a British edition was to be released in 1899 by Chatto and Windus called The Writings of Mark Twain De Luxe Edition. The collection consisted of 22 volumes; 1903 a 23rd volume was added to spark sales again and 1906/07 two more volumes were added by Harper and Brothers. All books were bound in green cloth (like the American edition) and included the Mark Twain watermark, Mark Twain’s autograph in the first volume, and a special title page designed by Tiffany and Company. Additionally, some sets also contained original manuscripts and letters. Those sets are believed to be special orders (see Schmidt, Guide to Uniform Editions ch. 4). Originally, 1000 sets were planned to be released, but due to bad sales prospects Andrew Chatto only requested 620 copies (see Welland 199). In the end, only 250 copies were produced. By 1906, Chatto still had eight sets of the deluxe edition and 65 copies of volume 23 left (Schmidt). While planning this edition, Mark Twain saw a high value in it. He placed this value mostly on the limited number of sets, as he said that he does not actually expect anybody to read this edition. Mark Twain said in an interview: “There's some human instinct which makes a man treasure what he is not to make any use of, because everybody does not possess it” (Scharnhorst, The Complete Interviews 335). When the deluxe edition was released, it was sold for $50 per set. Today, books from this edition are valuable collectors' items.

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