On 12/12/2012 10:28 AM, Darryl Brock wrote:
> Can anybody tell me when TS was available to readers in the US? In 
> bookstores and/or via subscription, when in 1876 did it appear?
>
The first Tom Sawyer volumes available in the U.S. were pirated volumes 
from the Belford Brothers in Toronto, issued on 29 July 1876. On 2 
November, Clemens complained to his English agent, Moncure Conway, that 
“Belford Bros., Canadian thieves, are flooding America with a cheap 
pirated edition of Tom Sawyer” and on 3 December he wrote Conway again:
“The Canadian ‘Tom Sawyer’ has actually taken the market away from us in 
every village in the Union. We cannot accomplish anything against the 
newsdealers because the newsdealer is privileged to sell a pirated book 
until we give him personal and distinct notice that that book is 
copyrighted. The Publishers say that as near as their lawyers can make 
it out, English copyright is not worth anything in Canada, unless it is 
recorded in Canada, within sixty days after publication” (MTLP, 105-107; 
see John Gerber’s introduction in the Iowa-California The Adventures of 
Tom Sawyer, Tom Sawyer Abroad, and Tom Sawyer, Detective, 20-25). The 
first American edition appeared on 8 December 1876.

Vic Fischer