Thanks, Forum, for all the good info about Following the Equator.  Peter, I'll definitely read this essay.

Ben


On 8/30/10 11:23 AM, "Peter Messent" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> There is a little known essay - quite old now - on the differences in =
> content in the US and UK versions of Following the Equator. In case of =
> interest it is by Dennis Welland, 'Mark Twain's Last Travel Book,' =
> Bulletin of the New York Public Library, Vol 69, No 1 (Jan 1969)pp. =
> 31-48.
>
> ________________________________
>
> From: Mark Twain Forum on behalf of Kevin Mac Donnell
> Sent: Fri 27/08/2010 2:48 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Following the Equator
>
>
>
> Regarding the best reading edition of  FOLLOWING THE EQUATOR--
>
> The English edition, MORE TRAMPS ABROAD, contains 6,000 words deleted =
> from
> the American edition. On the other hand, the American edition includes =
> 1,400
> words not in the English edition. So, neither is entirely satisfactory =
> as a
> reading edition.
>
> Is there an edition that provides the full text? I reckon I dunno. I'm =
> not
> sure an edition with the "full text" could be considered authorial in =
> the
> sense that it would reflect Twain's final intentions, but so long as the
> altered texts were designated as such, it would make for good reading. I
> don't know if the 1899 collected edition of FTE was revised by Twain. I =
> have
> marked proof copies for two works from that edition, but not FTE, and I =
> have
> not compared the 1899 text to the 1897 English and American editions.
> Perhaps the MTP knows to what extent Twain was aware of those textual
> differences and whether he revised the 1899 setting.
>
> If he did revise the text, then any FTE odd volumes from the 1899 =
> edition
> would do. That setting was used to print several later editions. BUT, =
> you'd
> miss out on the original illustrations that appeared in the 1897 =
> American
> edition (they are not present in the 1897 English edition). The Oxford
> edition simply reproduces the American edition, and not the English, but =
> has
> a good essay on the illustrations by Beverly David.
>
> Then, of course, there's the first Canadian edition (Vancouver, 1899)...
>
> Kevin
> @
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