Dear Bob:
Years ago, when I was trying to find similar information for The
Prince and the Pauper, I discovered that the Houghton Library
has the J. R. Osgood and Company Costbook and Sheet Stockbook for the
years 1881 through 1885. There you should be able to find the number of
copies of Stolen White Elephant printed and bound during
those years. I hope this is of some use.
Yours sincerely,
Victor Fischer
Mark Twain Project
At 09:18 PM 08/21/2000 -0400, you wrote:
> Seeing the recent questions about Twain's alleged ``white elephant''
remark reminded me of this question I've been meaning to ask: Does
anyone
>have any sales figures for ``The Stolen White Elephant'' in book form?
As I understand it (but don't remember where I read it), this book was
not
>published by subscription, but was intended for book stores, because
James Osgood convinced Twain to let him try selling a book that way. So
I
>assume it didn't sell nearly as many copies as the others, but I haven't
been able to find any actual numbers for sales in the first year, first
>few years or whatever, and I thought someone here might.
>
> -- Bob G.
>
>