I include some bibliographical background on QUEEN VICTORIA'S JUBILEE in my article on Twain's publications that first appeared in `Firsts Magazine' and is now available online at www.abaa.org At the time I published that article (1998) I had personally examined two copies supposedly inscribed by Twain, both with forged inscriptions, and had noted the location of a third. Another copy, this one with a Eugene Fields II forgery of Twain's signature has since surfaced, bringing the total of copies with forged signatures to four. As of 1998 no evidence had ever surfaced that would document that the book was even printed during Twain's lifetime. But last year I discovered a letter from the well-known New York rare bookseller James F. Drake, dated January 24, 1910, in which he discusses shipping a copy to a customer. This is the first documented evidence that the book appeared before Twain's death, and it seems likely from the context of the letter that it was a very recent publication. Since Twain was in Bermuda by that date, it is extremely unlikely that Twain ever learned about its publication. There is certainly no reason to believe that Twain had anything to do with its publication. What evidence that does exist points to the contrary. It was printed on paper watermarked 1887, and Merle Johnson (a bookseller who hid his involvement with several later anonymous private printings, as did his protege Jake Blanck) claimed that it was printed before 1908, but offered no evidence. This, coupled with the relative abundance of copies with forged signatures all point to an attempt to make the thing look like an earlier publication than it actually was, and Merle Johnson would seem to be the most likely suspect. Johnson's signature even appears along with one of the Twain forgeries in one copy. Shades of T. J. Wise, perhaps? And the Drake letter makes clear that it was being marketed as a "collector's item" from the very beginning --hardly a true "private printing." Kevin Mac Donnell Austin TX 78730