Couldn't resist responding to your musings about someone creating an update for Twain's scrapbook. Someone has created an updated version: In fact, updated versions have been in production since I was a child. The latest form adds video and allows texting.  I read somewhere that Tesla envisioned the current iphone technology in 1893. 

Sent from my iPhone

> On Nov 10, 2017, at 2:38 PM, Robert M Ellsworth <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> 
> Here is a direct link to the Google Patents page for the =91Improvements =
> in Scrap-books=92 patent, from which you can download a PDF copy if the =
> online documentation is too hard to read (as it very often is!)
> 
> https://www.google.com/patents/US140245
> 
> The idea is rather interesting: he covers the whole page with =
> water-soluble glue or mucilage, and a user moistens just the area where =
> something is to go, presumably most easily with a small brush or blot of =
> paper.  Contemporary ads appear to show something between the treated =
> gummed pages, perhaps material to which the gum left exposed between =
> pasted items won=92t self-stick in humid locations.  Presumably there is =
> some care to provide =91adhesive=92 that will not stick until desired, =
> perhaps dusting with (dyed) cornstarch or similar material to form what =
> parents with diapered children might know as =91a barrier layer=92.
> 
> The accounts I=92ve read say that he made ample profit from this =
> invention, and my guess is that the name recognition was a large part of =
> the attractiveness.  Perhaps it would still be, if anyone decided to =
> =93re-introduce=94 these with modern materials =85 I can think of a few =
> improvements just looking at the patent drawings.=