Re: [ABAA Discuss] Stolen Book AlertThe lovely Twain volume described
below was stolen last year from a NYC dealer and still  has  not
surfaced. If anyone on this list has seen it, please contact me
off-list.

A bit of background on the origins of this book: a goofy
preacher/bibliophile mailed Twain a small batch of first editions, each
with some silly question written on the end paper by the preacher. Twain
patiently answered his questions, with the result that the man of God
kept sending books (and questions). Twain's answers got shorter and less
friendly, but the preacher got him to inscribe about 15-20 books before
it was all over. The preacher sold them all at auction shortly after
Twain's death. Books from that group pop up in the market with some
regularity.

Kevin Mac Donnell
Austin TX

[CLEMENS, SAMUEL L.]. Christian Science With Notes Containing
Corrections to Date. By Mark Twain. Illustrated with frontispiece
portrait and two additional plates. 8vo, New York: Harper & Brothers,
1907. First Edition, first printing (with all points called for by BAL).
Original red cloth. Near fine copy. BAL 3497; McBride p.228. 20

A remarkable inscribed copy of Twain's attack on the claims of Mary
Baker Eddy and her followers.  In a hand other than Mark Twain's someone
has written on the flyleaf: "This book should live when the delusion is
dead. Is there any danger that a majority of the race will become
insane?" Beneath which, Twain has penned: "Only a very small minority
can properly claim to be sane [underlined].  Mark Twain."