Mark Twain's Literary Resources

"This first installment of Alan Gribben's new multi-volume Mark Twain's Literary Resources: A Reconstruction of His Library and Reading recounts Dr. Gribben's forty-five-year search for surviving volumes from the library assembled by Twain and his family members. Their collection of more than 3,000 titles was dispersed through donations and abrupt public auctions, but nearly a thousand of the books have been recovered. Dr. Gribben also adds many hundreds of other books, stories, essays, poems, songs, plays, operas, newspapers, and magazines with which Twain was demonstrably familiar. Volume One traces Twain's extensive use of public libraries. It also identifies Twain's favorite works, but shows that he had strong dislikes, too. Chapter 10 is devoted to his 'Library of Literary Hogwash'--specimens of atrocious poetry and prose that he delighted in ridiculing. In describing Twain's habit of annotating book margins, Dr. Gribben reveals his methods of detecting forged autographs and marginal notes that have fooled booksellers, collectors, and libraries. A total of twenty-five chapters study the patterns of his reading from various perspectives. A Critical Bibliography evaluates the numerous scholarly books and articles that have studied Twain's reading." --