Stanley dedicated the 1885 book to Leopold because the king had funded his expedition and because Stanley hoped for future funding and perhaps a gubernatorial appointment to the colony.

Quarry Farm has a copy, inscribed to Jervis Langdon, Jr., of Stanley’s first book, How I Found Livingston, which Clemens almost certainly read. As I describe in Twain’s Brand, he hosted Stanley in the Hartford house and sat through two lectures (Hartford and Boston) in 1886 when Stanley was touring the US to promote The Founding of the Congo and Its Free State.
Judith

Judith Yaross Lee, Ph.D.
Distinguished Professor Emerita

School of Communication Studies • Ohio University  • Schoonover Center 400  • Athens, OH 45701
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My newest book: Seeing Mad: Essays on Mad Magazine’s Humor and Legacy (University of Missouri Press, October 2020)
<https://upress.missouri.edu/9780826222138/seeing-mad/>



On May 18, 2021, at 10:35 AM, Barbara Schmidt <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote:

Stanley dedicated his book THE FOUNDING OF THE CONGO AND ITS FREE STATE
(1885) to King Leopold. There is no listing for this book in the original
edition of MARK TWAIN’S LIBRARY: A RECONSTRUCTION. However, I would be
surprised if Clemens was unaware of it.

The work of fiction TWAIN AND STANLEY ENTER PARADISE by Oscar Hijuelos
(2016) has the two comrades discussing Leopold and Stanley’s ties to him.

Barb

On Saturday, May 15, 2021, Clay Shannon <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote:

Twain rightfully hated King Leopold with a purple passion (see "King
Leopold's Soliloquy") for his role in the deaths of millions of Africans.
In reading "King Leopold's Ghost : A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism
in Colonial Africa" by Adam Hochschild, I see that Twain's friend Henry
Morton Stanley assisted Leopold in his plundering of the Congo and ruthless
exploitation of its people.
Was Twain ever aware of this? If not, why not? If he was, is there any
record of his ever denouncing his old friend?
- B. Clay Shannon