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Mac Donnell Rare Books <[log in to unmask]>
Thu, 6 Jan 2022 13:03:38 +0000
text/plain (86 lines)
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
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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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