Twain wrote Orion on Dec 9, 1874 that he'd just bought a typewriter in
Boston for $125 and that the letter he was sending was his first effort. He
praised it because it was fast, could fit more words on a sheet of paper,
and did not leave ink blobs. A facsimile of the letter appears in STORY OF
THE TYPEWRITER (1923). I seem to recall at least one other similar letter
that he wrote, perhaps to Howells (easy to check), and he probably wrote
several.

He used the typewriter for several books, but I don't know of any connection
between this and his views on copyright. He also tried Edison cylinders to
dictate one book, but gave it up. And he dictated to stenographers. The
significant pattern I see in all of this is that he was a man, who, when the
creative juices were flowing, needed a fast and efficient way to capture his
thoughts on paper. His general writing habits, reported daily word counts,
and the flowing appearance of most of his manuscripts all point in this
direction.

And that business about him using his left hand when his right hand got
tired (repeated twice in the Burns film) is hogwash. Twain made a joking
comment about this in a letter, and Burns took it for Gospel.

Kevin Mac Donnell
Austin TX