Hello all,

Being a concerned scholar, I just wrote to the librarian at the University
of Texas explaining the situation and recommending  the book pulled from
the shelves and returned to the publisher for a refund.  I would hope some
of you might do the same at your libraries--a sort of post-facto peer
review.  David Sloane told me that he reviewed the book for "Choice"--a
journal for librarians--and recommended it not be purchased.

Best,

Tracy

On Sun, Dec 14, 2014 at 8:39 AM, Barbara Schmidt <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:
>
> According to the Amazon page that I can see, hard copies are still being
> sold.  And they are still available in many bookstores throughout the
> country.  It appears the Amazon Kindle edition has been delayed until Dec.
> 23, according to the Amazon projected delivery dates. We can only guess at
> the reason behind the delay.
>
> It is my personal opinion that the book would require a complete rewrite
> and overhaul to address the many errors that have been identified which
> include many that were not mentioned in Kevin Mac Donnell's review or
> addendum. It is distressing to scholars to see poison in the
> informational stream that may take years to overcome when these books are
> purchased by libraries or the casual reader.
>
> Another disappointing fact is that perhaps the most important item
> pictured in the book of interest to Twain scholars remains lost today.
> It is Clemens's letter to the Copyright Office addressed to Ainsworth Rand
> Spofford dated May 7, 1874 (along with the cover of the pamphlet for MARK
> TWAIN'S SKETCHES). The editors at the Mark Twain Project reported that the
> item could not be located in 2001 (see the online annotations for that
> letter or p. 759 of LETTERS, vol. 6).  Recent inquiries to the Library of
> Congress shortly after the release of this book indicate the item still
> cannot be found.  A much clearer photograph of the Clemens letter and
> pamphlet was published in 1994 in THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS: AMERICA'S
> MEMORY, by Carol Highsmith and Ted Landphair (p. 68) and this photograph is
> the one reproduced in Katz's book.
>
> Barb
>