Ben Griffin mentioned FACTS BY A WOMAN (1881). The source at UV says it 
was written by Harriet Wasson, but my catalogue notes say the author was 
Harriet Wasson Styer (1842-1921) so I'll need to resolve that possible 
conflict. Maybe she married; she was not married at the time she was a 
book agent in California.

The one Barb mentions is an eccentric account, and I don't think 
mentions actually selling books by Twain, but the false claim is made 
that Twain was once a book agent.

I can add a third: Elizabeth Lindley's DIARY OF A BOOK AGENT (1912). 
It's of special interest because she was selling books in Hartford, and 
tried to sell a set of Twain's books to a fellow-who was, unbeknown to 
her--a friend of Twain. The fellow declined, but suggested she go to a 
particular address and offer a set to one Samuel Clemens, who would very 
likely be interested in Mark Twain's books. She fell for the trick, not 
knowing who this Clemens fellow was. At least, that's the story she 
tells in her book.

Kevin
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------ Original Message ------
From: "Barbara Schmidt" <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: 1/18/2020 12:59:22 PM
Subject: Re: Twain's Book agents

>This one may be of interest — THE BOOK AGENT: HIS BOOK by Joshua Wright
>(1904).  The text is available at archive.org.
>
>Barb
>
>On Saturday, January 18, 2020, Clay Shannon <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>>  Did any book agent write up his experiences - what it was like traveling
>>  around the country, from house to house and farm to farm, selling people
>>  advance copies of Twain's next book? I would wager a healthy sum that there
>>  were some quite interesting stories to tell.
>>  - B. Clay Shannon
>>
>