Very Cool Mark Twain Project

A new CD to benefit the Mark Twain boyhood home in Hannibal is being released next week.

http://www.prescriptionbluegrassblog.com/2011/09/new-cd-gives-life-to-mark-twains-words.html As picked up from the prescription bluegrass blog.

Stories by Twain with musical additions. I think Sam would have been proud.

Mark Twain Gets a Stamp

It's about time. The 27th stamp in the Literary Series from the United States Postal Service honors the great American author Mark Twain on a "forever" stamp. Why it took 26 issues to get around to him I'll never understand.

Mark Twain's Autobiography the Holiday Book this year!

I've been watching the progress of the Mark Twain project over the years, and was excited to know the the Autobiography was being published this year. I ordered my copy from Powell's early this month and got it within a week. From reviews I've read there really isn't much of the much vaunted info that was not to be published until 100 years after Samuel Clemens died, since many researchers and writers have worked through it in the intervening years. However, it should be the authoritative version.

Today the New York Times reports that it has gone back to press numerous times already (the official release date was just last week) and is the holiday sell out book of the year.

Salmuel L Clemens as a book critic

It comes as no surprise to me that Mr. Clemens would have decided opinions on the writings of others. Anyone who has read beyond Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer would be aware that he was a man of far ranging interests and concerns. NYT has an article about the discovery of marginal notes in books from his personal library donated to the Redding Connecticut Library.
"In honor of the centennial of his death on April 21, the library granted The New York Times permission to examine this trove of books and record notes and markings Twain left behind in their margins."
Since the books were in circulation for much of their existence, and the library collection was culled of slower moving items at times (as all library collections are), there are not a large number of the Clemens/Twain volumes left.