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The
Innocents Abroad
By Mark Twain. "Being an Account of the Steamship Quaker City's
1867 Pleasure Excursion to Europe and the Holy Land; with Descriptions
of Countries, Nations, Incidents and Adventures, as They Appeared
to the Author." With cartoon illustrations by Heather McAdams who
was sent by the publisher in the Summer of 1995 to retrace the authors
steps and "report on the present state of tourism." In one of his
most exuberant nonfiction works, Twain wrote, "The people of those
foreign countries are very, very ignorant. They looked curiously
at the costumes we had brought from the wilds of America. They observed
that we talked loudly at table sometimes. They noticed that we looked
out for expenses and got what we conveniently could out of a franc,
and wondered where in the mischief we came from. In Paris they just
simply opened their eyes and stared when we spoke to them in French!
We never did succeed in making those idiots understand their own
language." The companion themes which fill these pages—the shallowness
of the sites to be visited and the visitors—are as well revealed
in McAdams' new cartoons as in the master satirist's words. Text
follows a first edition copy in the possession of Northwestern University
Library. Letterpress from Monotype Bell on Johannot paper. Twenty
pages of illustrations. The two-volume set is handbound between
red cloth covered boards with exposed spine sewing and housed in
a black and white linen-covered case wrapper with black leather
straps and brass studs, intended to suggest a portmanteau. Edition
of 200. (7.75 x 11.25 inches each; 445 pp.) An additional set of
cartoons suitable for framing is also available.
Book: $1200
Cartoon Set $120
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