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Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Thu, 6 Jan 2022 07:54:30 -0800
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Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
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Scott Holmes <[log in to unmask]>
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My Bad.  I was checking for "Postal Service" not "Berlin Postal 
Service".  In Graeber's, essay he was not limited to Berlin but to all 
of Germany, consequently I missed it.  Still I find it strange that 
Graeber would have been searching through the Mark Twain Papers - but 
then again his breadth of knowledge was quite amazing.  Again, thanks 
for the feedback.

On 1/6/22 5:03 AM, Mac Donnell Rare Books wrote:
> Your comment make me unsure if you saw my response to your question. A 
> glitch in the listserv filter sent me a rejection notice but then my 
> posting seemed to appear after I resent it, and a notice followed that 
> said it had been posted. So, I assume it did finally appear.
>
> Anyway, my response was that the essay is quoted at pp. 97-100 of the 
> book, and it is cited at p. 164 as `The Berlin Postal Service' as one 
> of the essays published in the microfilm edition published by MTP.
>
> Kevin
> @
> Mac Donnell Rare Books
> 9307 Glenlake Drive
> Austin TX 78730
> 512-345-4139
> Member: ABAA, ILAB, BSA
>
> You can browse our books at:
> www.macdonnellrarebooks.com
>
>
> ------ Original Message ------
> From: "Scott Holmes" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Sent: 1/6/2022 2:06:13 AM
> Subject: Re: Postal Service
>
>> I do have a copy of the paperback edition of "A Tramp in Berlin" and 
>> I do recall reading the bit about the Berlin postal system. 
>> Unfortunately, I was not thinking of such things at the time I was 
>> reading it.  The quote in my edition begins on page 97.  Twain's 
>> essay must exist in some form, however, as David Graeber was aware of 
>> it and referenced it by title.  I did check the index before writing 
>> to Twain-L and was disappointed that the essay was not referenced by 
>> title so I thank you all for reminding me of this passage.
>>
>> On 1/5/22 4:52 PM, Eva Schweitzer wrote:
>>> Twain's story about the Postal service in berlin was originally 
>>> published in our book
>>> Eva Schweitzer
>>>
>>>
>>> ----------------------------
>>>
>>> Dr. Eva C. Schweitzer
>>>
>>> ________________________________
>>> From: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> on behalf of Barbara 
>>> Schmidt <[log in to unmask]>
>>> Sent: Thursday, January 6, 2022 1:46 AM
>>> To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
>>> Subject: Re: Postal Service
>>>
>>> See page 100 of Austilat’s book — A TRAMP IN BERLIN. I don’t have a 
>>> copy at
>>> hand but amazon has a preview with quotes about the Berlin Rohrpost 
>>> system.
>>> Perhaps Austilat references the sources of the quotes from that 
>>> essay in
>>> his bibliography.
>>>
>>> Barb
>>>
>>> On Wednesday, January 5, 2022, Wolfgang Hochbruck <
>>> [log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>>
>>>> I would have surmised it was included in Andreas Austilat's 2013
>>>> edition _A Tramp in Berlin_, but not only is the essay itself not
>>>> there, i can't even find a mention of it in the volume.
>>>>
>>>> best
>>>> w
>>>>
>>>> On Wed, 5 Jan 2022 12:21:04 -0800
>>>>   Scott Holmes <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>>>> I recently came across a reference to an essay by Mark Twain entitled
>>>>> "Postal Service".  This was in a series of essays written by David
>>>>> Graeber included in a book entitled "The Utopia of Rules".  He
>>>>> remarked "Mark Twain, who lived briefly in Berlin between 1891 and
>>>>> 1892, was so taken with it that he composed one of his only known
>>>>> non-satirical essays, entitled “Postal Service,” just to celebrate 
>>>>> its
>>>>> wondrous efficiency.".  This was in reference to the German postal
>>>>> system.  I have been unable to locate this essay by Twain.
>>>>>
>>>>> I'm casting about for interesting bits about Twain's dealing with
>>>>> bureaucracies.  I know there are far too many of them to deal with
>>>>> this comprehensively but I do hope to catch the flavor.
>>>>
>>>> Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Hochbruck
>>>> Dept. of English
>>>> Centre for Security and Society
>>>> Albert Ludwigs University Freiburg
>>>> Rempart St. 15
>>>> D-79098 Freiburg
>>>> Germany
>>>>
>>

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