Life on the Mississippi (illustrated and signed by Thomas Hart Benton)

First Edition thus. Fine, one of the best we've seen. Limited Editions Club (1944). Special edition limited to only 1200 copies, this being number 670. Signed by famed artist, Thomas Hart Benton. Benton illustrated three Twain Limited Editions Club titles, of which this is one (and we presently have the other two as well). Fine in green leather and pictorial boards with gilt present and bright. Interior fine, with text and wonderful color, monochromatic, and black and white illustrations by Benton bright and clean with no dulling. In original green cloth folding box, spine label heavily worn otherwise very good and sturdy. With original glassine wrapper, very scarce thus. Octavo. A wonderful copy!

Thomas Hart Benton was one of the central artists of the 20th century and is associated with the American Regionalism movement. He is famous for his grand-scale murals depicting everyday life with real people at the center. A native of the American Midwest, Benton made paintings and drawings depicting the realities of agrarian life and the pressures of industrialization. Benton regularly incorporated quintessentially American icons of progress in his images, including railroads, cars, and factories.