Many thanks, Sharon, for satisfying my curiosity about Abraham's trip down
the river.  Two of the links didn't work, but the Claremont and McClure's
links did so I now have saved the river story to read later.

You are very kind and I profoundly appreciate your generosity.  As it
happens, one of my speculations about Mark Twain is that he wrote a
burlesque biography based on one about General Grant.  He certainly joked
about Life of George Washington also mentioned in one of these articles.
I believe we can't depend on his word for the truth of anything since he
admits he hasn't included everything in his autobiography.   At least we
can be sure he was a fan of biographies, his own included.

Hoping I don't ask too much of you, is there any chance you have ever seen
or heard of a book, -Mark Twain; The Bachelor Years,- written by Margaret
Sanborn and published in 1990?  Our local Book Collector's Club meets
annually in the California State Library and there were several copies of
that book for sale there last year....AND this year!  I haven't read it
all, but was glad to see that she focused on his relationship with his
brother, Henry, more than I've noticed elsewhere.  I'm curious whether her
book has been mentioned here,  The slip cover carried a positive review
from the LA Times.

THANKS, again,
Arianne

PS  Thought you might be interested in seeing how your message came
through.  Don't know what triggers 3Ds.


On Sun, Jan 25, 2015 at 2:54 PM, Sharon McCoy <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Arianne,=20
>
> The original Lincoln pamphlet has been republished multiple times, and you
> =
> can read the original online (see below).  I'd join Hal and Martin in
> cauti=
> on about the CW discussion post's claims about Twain, though, as the
> postin=
> g is pretty clearly a puff piece for the new edition (the only one called
> "=
> Vote Lincoln"), which is simply the newest of several over the decades,
> inc=
> luding a U of Indiana Press edition from 1961. =20
>
> As for reading the original Lincoln story, which John Locke Scripps is
> said=
>  to have based on an autobiographical sketch that Lincoln supplied,
> WorldCa=
> t shows several libraries owning a copy, and the Claremont College
> Librarie=
> s and the University of Illinois both have archival copies of the original
> =
> pamphlet available for free reading (Claremont) or download as PDF
> (Illinoi=
> s).=20
>
> Hoping that these URLs will come across without gobbledygook, but this is
> m=
> y first message to the Forum from this email account, so my fingers are
> cro=
> ssed.
>
> Claremont: =20
> http://ccdl.libraries.claremont.edu/cdm/ref/collection/pal/id/4320
>
> University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign: =20
>
> http://libsysdigi.library.illinois.edu/oca/Books2008-04/lifeofabrahamlin00s=
> cri/lifeofabrahamlin00scri.pdf
>
> You can also get the edition by Scripps's daughter, with printed
> documentat=
> ion of its provenance.  She'd never heard of the book when asked about it
> i=
> n the 1890s, but after extensive searching and correspondence, eventually
> g=
> ained access to four copies of the pamphlet and reprinted it in 1900. =20
>
> 1900 edition, Google books:=20
>
> https://books.google.com/books?id=3D0eknAAAAYAAJ
>
> You can read as an ebook on a device, or download as a PDF.
>
> The flatboat story was in general circulation in the 1890s, too, as
> McClure=
> 's Magazine talks about it in a piece on Lincoln (available on Project
> Gute=
> nberg, at
> http://www.gutenberg.org/files/11548/11548-h/11548-h.htm#ABRAHAM_=
> LINCOLN)
>
> Cheers,
> Sharon
>
>
>
>
> =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
> =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D
> Sharon D. McCoy, Ph.D.
> Executive Coordinator, Mark Twain Circle of America
> Editor, All Things Twain:  An Encyclopedia of Mark Twain's World
>       (forthcoming, Greenwood/ABC-CLIO, 2016)
> Contributing Editor, Humor in America (on hiatus)
>          http://humorinamerica.wordpress.com/author/sdmccoy/
>
>
> Department of English
> University of Georgia
> 254 Park Hall
> Athens, GA  30602
>
> Office:  Park 44
> (706) 542-1261 (messages)
>
> What is life but a satire of our own pretensions?
>
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