just did the math, and mark twain had an $82,000/year salary as a steamboat captain, adjusting inflation rates of $250~/month (which translates to $6,800~/month) On Thu, Aug 8, 2013 at 5:42 PM, Kevin Mac Donnell < [log in to unmask]> wrote: > Yes, I dropped a bombshell at the Elmira Conference, but I could only cover > the bare outlines of my article in my 15 minute paper, so I strongly urge > anyone interested to read the much longer and documented article on the > subject in the Mark Twain Journal. In fact, I urge everyone to subscribe to > the MTJ. I'm not sure how soon volume 50 will be available for sale as a > back issue, but that's also possible at some point. However, if you > subscribe you'll be the first on your block to read my next bombshell in an > upcoming issue of MTJ (I'm not kidding, and I'm not out of bombshells just > yet). > > In a nutshell, while looking for something else in Google Books in > 2005-6-7, > I found a use of the name "Mark Twain" used as a proper name in a burlesque > sketch in a comic journal in 1861 that was edited by a prominent Phunny > Phellow. This burlesque piece made fun of southern mariners by giving them > names made up from insulting nautical terms, whose meanings I explain in my > article. It's a comic journal already known to have been read by Twain, and > an Artemus Ward piece in that very same issue of this journal has > previously > been cited as a piece familiar to Twain, so it's hard to imagine that Twain > did not turn two more pages in that issue and notice "Mark Twain" in the > little burlesque sketch I found. I confided my discovery to a colleague who > agreed to keep it under his hat. But in 2012 I was offered a copy of this > comic journal by a bookseller who cited the burlesque piece with "Mark > Twain" and I knew my secret was out. I assume my colleague let the secret > slip while trying to help me in my research, but it's possible somebody > else > became aware of the same piece on their own. But the bookseller offering me > the journal for sale said they could not recall how they'd heard of it, so > I'm doubtful. Anyway, it was time to go into print with what I had, a > little > sooner than I had planned. > > Now, back to 1861... Twain was not in the market for a nom de plume at that > point in his life, whether he read this journal in 1861 or not. He was a > highly paid ($250/mo) successful steamboat pilot and had no body of writngs > to call his own, and no intention of becoming an author at that moment in > his life. But the war came and ended his chosen career. He was soon off to > Nevada, and by 1863, when he visited Carson City, he was indeed a writer > and > had a body of work and needed a nom de plume. He abruptly adopted the name > "Mark Twain" while in Carson City in Feb 1863 and ten years later when > asked > about it he claimed to have gotten it from Capt Sellers who he said had > recently died and had used the name "Mark Twain" before him. This has been > proven factually false. Sellers was not yet dead in Feb, 1863 and no piece > by Sellers (or anyone else) has ever been found signed "Mark Twain" before > Twain's use in Feb 1863. In my article I go into some detail to explain how > the newspaper exchange system worked and which CA and NV newspapers were > exchanging with this comic journal where this piece had appeared, and which > papers would have had files of that journal sitting on their office shelves > in Nevada in Feb., 1863 where Twain would have found them. Whetehr or not > he > saw it in 1861, I think he certainly saw it in 1863, and I explain why > Twain > would have made up the Sellers story to hide the true source of his nom de > plume, how he began asserting his brand both in the literary and commercial > marketplaces, and how he was deliberately changing his style of humor away > from the Phunny Phellow style, and how this explains why he used the > Sellers > story to connect his nom de plume with the Mississippi River instead of the > actual context in which the name was first used in that comic journal in > 1861 (as a nautical term used by ocean-going sailing vessels to merely > indicate shallow water --a mere two fathoms or 12 feet--keep in mind that > ocean-going vessels of that day drafted 15 to 25 feet, while flat-bottomed > Mississippi steamboats drafted just 6-8 feet). So, the Mark Twain who > appeared as a character in that 1861 burlesque piece was merely a shallow > fool; Twain wanted to connect his nom de plume to the Mississippi River > that > was central to his life and writings, where it has dual meanings (safe or > dangerous water, depending on your direction of travel from shallow or > deeper waters). I make the case that he saw this burlesque in 1863 in > Carson > City in a newspaper exchange file (or one of several other likely places) > and that this suggested the possibilities to him, triggering his sudden > decision to adopt his nom de plume. The real importance of all of this is > that it demonstrates that Twain was more aware of the meanings and > usefulness of his nom de plume, and more conscious of his public image and > brand than we might have thought, and was motivated to adopt a good nom de > plume to increase his value as an author being reprinted in the exchange > system, and was willing to engage in creating his own mythology. Nothing > wrong with any of this, and I admire his smarts. > > This is probably a terrible summary of my article, and if I take the time > to > reread what I've written in this posting I'll end up scratching around on > it > until I've written my entire article all over again, so I'll stop here. > I've > been a little vague on the details on purpose, hoping that the curious will > consider themselves sufficiently teased into springing for a few bucks and > supporting the MTJ with a subscription or at least a back issue request. I > don't get a dime out of any of this, but the MTJ is very close to finally > being caught up and deserves all the support anyone has to offer. Did I > mention that volume 50, the issue in which my article appears, is full of > purdy pichers of things that illustrate my article, including some things > nobody has seen before? Well, I just did. > > Kevin > @ > Mac Donnell Rare Books > 9307 Glenlake Drive > Austin TX 78730 > 512-345-4139 > Member: ABAA, ILAB > ************************* > You may browse our books at > www.macdonnellrarebooks.com > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Arianne" <[log in to unmask]> > To: <[log in to unmask]> > Sent: Thursday, August 08, 2013 1:53 PM > Subject: Kevin's Discovery? > > > > Is there any chance we'll get any part of the revelation here? I'm > > profoundly interested in this subject. Another take on the source > > of TWAIN! > > > > -- > > Arianne Laidlaw > > > > > > > > ----- > > No virus found in this message. > > Checked by AVG - www.avg.com > > Version: 2013.0.3392 / Virus Database: 3209/6559 - Release Date: 08/08/13 > > > > > > ----- > No virus found in this message. > Checked by AVG - www.avg.com > Version: 2013.0.3392 / Virus Database: 3209/6559 - Release Date: 08/08/13 >