The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain, Illustrated by Peter Hurd, 1931

Twain, Mark. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Philadelphia, Chicago, Toronto: The John C. Winston Company, 1931. Illustrated by Peter Hurd. Octavo. Original publisher’s red cloth boards, stamped in orange and black, with illustrated cover label. With numerous full and half page illustrations throughout.

Presented is a charming edition of Mark Twain’s classic tale, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. This book was published in Philadelphia, Chicago, and Toronto by The John C. Winston Company, circa 1930. It features several color plates by illustrator Peter Hurd and numerous black and white illustrations throughout the book. It is presented here in its original red cloth boards, stamped in orange and black, with a beautiful illustrated cover label of “Tom Encounters the Newcomer,” which is also found as the frontispiece illustration. 

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is a novel by Mark Twain published on June 9, 1876. The book follows Tom Sawyer, growing up along the Mississippi River. The first novel Mark Twain wrote without a co-author, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is also his most clearly autobiographical novel. Enlivened by extraordinary and melodramatic events, it is otherwise a realistic depiction of the experiences, people, and places that Mark Twain knew as a child in Hannibal, Missouri. 

“Turning away from the adult corruption and humbuggery which he had satirized in The Gilded Age, Mark Twain refreshed his spirit in this… story of boyhood. The irresponsibility, the love of odd adventure, and the sense of natural justice as opposed to the village code, which characterize the heroes of this book and its sequel Huckleberry Finn, presented a sharp contrast to the Sunday School or rags-to-riches literature which was then the common fare doled out to children. For once, the natural rights of the small boy were set forth by a great writer who remembered his own childhood, when he had indeed inveigled some boys into whitewashing a fence for him, given pain-killer to his cat, teased his brother unmercifully, and continually sharpened his wits in devising ways of escaping punishment. These books let fresh air into the minds of parents who had shut the door on their own childhood, and they will be classics the world over as long as there are boys” (Grolier, 100 American).

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer was originally published without illustrations, by Chatto & Windus, London, on June 9, 1876, about six months before the American edition was put on sale. The first American edition was published in the winter of 1876, although an application for copyright had been made as early as July 21, 1875. “Publication of Tom Sawyer was little noticed… The book has, however, proved to be one of the most durable works in American literature. By the time of Twain’s death, it was his top-selling book. It has been in print continuously since 1876, and has outsold all other Mark Twain works” (Rasmussen, 459).

Peter Hurd was an American painter, muralist, illustrator and writer, born in Roswell, New Mexico. Hurd is best known for his landscapes of the West and portraits of the people who lived there. Hurd was educated at New Mexico Military Institute from 1917-20, appointed to the West Point Military Academy, but he resigned in 1923 to pursue a career in the arts. He moved to Pennsylvania, where he studied at the Philadelphia Academy of Fine Art and took private lessons from artist N.C. Wyeth. During his five year artist apprenticeship, Hurd met and married his teacher's daughter, Henriette Wyeth.

During the Great Depression, Hurd and his family moved back out West and settled in the 2,500-acre Sentinel Ranch in San Patricio, New Mexico. Taking advantage of his beloved Southwestern light, Hurd became best known for his paintings of the Hondo Valley landscape. A master of many mediums, Hurd painted in watercolor and egg tempera, in addition to works on canvas and murals in oil and acrylic.

His regional landscape subjects and realistic execution were part of the American Scene style of art and came to represent many people’s vision of New Mexico.  For the Federal Arts Project, Hurd won commissions to execute murals in Big Spring, Texas,  Alamogordo, New Mexico, and Dallas, Texas. Life magazine ran a pictorial and biographical essay about the artist titled “Peter Hurd Paints His Own Ranch in New Mexico” in 1939.  Later, during World War II, Life sent Hurd abroad as a war correspondent with the US Air Force, tasked with depicting the war effort. Many of his war paintings are in the collection of the Pentagon.

Hurd had his first solo exhibition at MacBeth Galleries in New York in 1934 and another solo exhibition there in 1944. He had two solo exhibitions with Sullivan Gallery in New York in the late 1930s. Hurd exhibited at many museums, including the Corcoran Gallery of Art (1932-1957), the Whitney Museum of American Art (1937-1944), and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (1938-1944).    

CONDITION:

Very good condition overall. Octavo. In the publisher's original red cloth boards, stamped in orange and black with a beautiful illustrated cover label. Some rubbing at extremities of cloth boards, with light staining to cloth boards, light scratches to cover label. Illustrated throughout with color and black and white illustrations by Hurd. Original illustrated endpaper. Clean pages throughout, light toning of paper due to age. 

Dimensions: 8 3/4" H x 6 1/4" W x 1 3/4" D.

Accompanied by our company's letter of authenticity.