1889 1st UK Edtn (Oct 1889) A YANKEE AT THE COURT OF KING ARTHUR By Samuel Langhorne Clemens Mark Twain Good

1889 1st Edition Oct 1889, UK Edition
A YANKEE AT THE COURT OF KING ARTHUR

By Samuel Langhorne Clemens (Mark Twain)
Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has produced", and William Faulkner called him "the father of American literature".

Illustrated By: Dan Beard & Hal Hurst


Format: Hardcover,
Language: English
Dust Jacket: No Jacket, Dust Jacket Condition: No Jacket

Published By: Chatto and Windus, London

octavo (8vo 6 × 9 152 × 229),Pages 290

ISBN:

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court is an 1889 novel by American humorist and writer Mark Twain. The book was originally titled A Yankee in King Arthur's Court. Some early editions are titled A Yankee at the Court of King Arthur.
In the book, a Yankee engineer from Connecticut named Hank Morgan receives a severe blow to the head and is somehow transported in time and space to England during the reign of King Arthur. After some initial confusion and his capture by one of Arthur's knights, Hank realizes that he is actually in the past, and he uses his knowledge to make people believe that he is a powerful magician. He becomes a rival of Merlin, who appears to be little more than a fraud, and gains the trust of King Arthur. Hank attempts to modernize the past in order to make people's lives better. Hank is disgusted by how the Barons treat the commoners, and tries to implement democratic reforms, but in the end he is unable to prevent the death of Arthur. Hank declares England a republic, but the Catholic Church - growing fearful of his power - issues an interdict against him.
Twain wrote the book as a burlesque of Romantic notions of chivalry after being inspired by a dream in which he was a knight himself, severely inconvenienced by the weight and cumbersome nature of his armor. It is a satire of feudalism and monarchy that also celebrates homespun ingenuity and democratic values while questioning the for-profit ideals of capitalism and outcomes of the Industrial Revolution. At one point in the book, Twain even defends the French Revolution.[2] It is among several works by Twain and his contemporaries that mark the transition from the Gilded Age to the Progressive Era of socioeconomic discourse. It is often cited as a formative example of the fledgling time travel genre.

Previous owner stamp Dr. E. W. F. Stiven (Surgeon), of Manor Lodge, Harrow-on-the-Hill.

SKU: BTETM0002122
Approximate Package Dimensions H: 12.5, L: 30, W: 25 (Units: cm), W: 2Kg