Having just reread Roughing It, I finally decided to tackle this book by Albert Richardson. It has some clear similarities; in essence, it’s like Roughing It without the touch of genius. And physically, the book seems to have been the template for Twain’s first two best-sellers, and probably The Gilded Age and A Tramp Abroad too. Interestingly, in the first 220 pages or so I’ve noticed two illustrations that were also used in Roughing It – one of which had nothing at all to do with Twain’s book, but was apparently just used to fill in some white space at the end of a chapter.

What I wanted to ask about is this: I believe I’ve read that Beyond the Mississippi was the American Publishing Co.’s best-selling book before the company signed Mark Twain. Does anybody know if that’s true – and if so, how many copies Richardson’s book sold?

 -- Bob G.