I've always been baffled that we have no recordings of Twain speaking,
particularly since he was so fascinated with new mechanical inventions.  He
certainly had no problems with documenting his life with photographs.

Did he, for some reason, choose not to record his speeches?  I know he
became very irritated with newspapers who would print his speeches verbatim
while he was still on the lecture circuit.  Did he believe that recordings
would destroy the element of surprise that was so important on stage?

Joseph L. Coulombe
University of Tennessee at Martin