The American Claimant and Other Stories and Sketches

New York: Harper & Brothers, 1897. Reissue. Hard Cover. Very Good/No Jacket. Beard, Dan. 1897 printing. Spine faded, a couple small smudges on exterior, hinges just beginning to weaken, ink name on front endpapers. 545 pp. 8vo. Red cloth, gilt titles. Black-and-white frontispiece and illustrations in text by Dan Beard. The complete text of Twain's novel The American Claimant, together with five short stories from Merry Tales, three from the 1,000,000 Bank-Note and Other Stories, and nine others. "Twain wrote the novel with the help of phonographic dictation, the first author (according to Twain himself) to do so. The American Claimant is a comedy of mistaken identities and multiple role switches. Its cast of characters include an American enamored of British hereditary aristocracy and a British earl entranced by American democracy.