Reading your message was an education. Thank you for taking the time to produce such a thorough coverage. Arianne Laidlaw Sacramento On Fri, Oct 11, 2013 at 6:47 PM, R. Kent Rasmussen < [log in to unmask]> wrote: > BlankToday's mail brought an elaborate promotion for a 15-volume = > collection of facsimile reprints of Mark Twain books produced by the = > Bradford Press of Morton Grove, Illinois. As many members of the Forum = > are probably receiving the same package, it may not be inappropriate to = > make some observations here about this offer. I don't wish to recommend = > whether anyone should or should not buy these books, but I do recommend = > a close study of the offer before making a decision. > > The glossy Bradford packet recalls Publisher's Clearinghouse sweepstakes = > promotions from years ago. It contains seven separate pieces presenting = > redundant information and instructions, even including stickers to affix = > to the reply form. Like the old sweepstakes packets, it's a confusing = > array. > > I've not seen any of the facsimile books the company produces, but if = > they are as faithful to the original editions as the promotion claims, I = > expect they're fully worth their $49.99-per-volume asking price. The = > heart of the promotion is an offer of _The Celebrated Jump Frog_ = > facsimile volume for $19.99. Also offered is attractive = > "bronze-finished" (whatever that means) bookends to purchasers of the = > set's fifth volume, _A Tramp Abroad_. That offer takes some effort to = > understand. The books are sent out on a free-trial basis, presumably in = > numerical order. To receive the free bookends, one apparently must = > examine the first five volumes and buy at least the fifth volume. I see = > no clear explanation of whether one must pay shipping charges, or what = > the shipping charges may be, for return volumes, so there is a hidden = > cost to consider. > > Incidentally, the publisher's claim that its books are the "first" = > authentic reproductions of Mark Twain's first editions isn't quite true. = > Full facsimile reproductions of _Tom Sawyer_ and _Huckleberry Finn_ have = > been available for many years. Granted those books represent only two of = > Mark Twain's titles, but this new set itself is anything but = > comprehensive. Its 15 titles have no clear unity. In once place, the set = > is described as "the first-ever replicas of Mark Twain's works as he = > himself envisioned them. ... These authentic replica editions ... appear = > precisely according to Twain's original intent in every detail." That's = > a curious assertion. The publisher seems completely unaware of the work = > of the Mark Twain Project, which for many years has been restoring the = > texts of Mark Twain's books as he intended them. To imply that = > facsimiles of first editions satisfy his original intent simply isn't = > true. An outrageous contradiction in the set is its inclusion of the = > 1916 edition of _The Mysterious Stranger_, which Albert Bigelow Paine = > and Frederick Duneka rewrote, drawing on two separate Mark Twain = > manuscripts. How that bogus edition can be described as meeting Mark = > Twain's "original intent" is mysterious indeed. The only explanation for = > its inclusion in this set must be its beautiful illustrations by N. C. = > Wyeth (whom one flyer describes as "the 19th century's most respected = > American illustrator"--an extravagant claim for a man who began = > illustrating books in the 20th century). > > Yet another flyer calls the books "authentic reproductions of Mark = > Twain's original first editions." What exactly does that mean? The set = > includes 13 American editions and 2 British editions. The two British = > titles are _Tom Sawyer Abroad_ and _Tom Sawyer, Detective_. The latter = > story was not issued as a stand-alone title in an early American = > edition, so an argument can be made that the British edition is an = > "original first edition." There was, however, an American edition of = > _Tom Sawyer Abroad_. Why isn't it used instead of the British edition? = > Because the Chatto & Windus edition came out four days before its = > handsomer American counterpart, I suppose it could be regarded as the = > "original first edition," but so what? Chatto editions of _Tom Sawyer_ = > and _Huckleberry Finn_ came out before the American editions, too, but = > those aren't the editions replicated in this collection. > > The overall selection of titles is curious, too. It includes _Innocents = > Abroad_, _A Tramp Abroad_, and _Life on the Mississippi_ but not = > _Roughing It_ or _Following the Equator._ With the emphasis the = > publisher places on attractive illustrations, surely the lavishly = > illustrated _Following the Equator_, with its beautiful decorative = > cover, merits inclusion. Another heavily illustrated first edition = > missing from the set is _Sketches New & Old_. Why is it excluded while = > lightly illustrated titles such as _The American Claimant_, _Tom Sawyer = > Abroad_, and _Tom Sawyer Detective_ are included? > > I'll reiterate that these books may truly be worth their asking prices, = > and it's possible I'll buy some myself. I am, however, a little = > skeptical of the publisher's claims about the books being authentic in = > every detail. I've already cited some of the publisher's misleading = > statements, including the howler about Wyeth. Other errors can be found = > in the flyers (e.g., Edward W. Kemble's initials are not "W. W."; _The = > Prince and the Pauper_ is not about Edward III; W. W. Denslow did not = > contribute illustrations to _The Innocents Abroad_). Moreover, the = > suggestion that building a collection of original editions could cost = > "upwards of $169,000" is ludicrous. I've purchased early editions = > (including many firsts) of all but two of the editions in this facsimile = > collection and paid less than one-one hundredth of that figure for them. = > Yes, pristine first editions would have cost me a lot more, but not 100 = > times more. > > At the recent Elmira conference, a participant gave a presentation about = > this facsimile edition that was received with some embarrassment and = > dismay. Apart from being a blatantly commercial presentation that seemed = > inappropriate at the conference, the presentation revealed a shocking = > ignorance of the work of the Mark Twain Project and completely = > overlooked the existence of the Oxford Mark Twain edition, edited by = > Shelley Fisher Fishkin. Unlike the Bradford edition, the Oxford edition = > has a true unity--its 29 volumes (including several composite volumes) = > represent the first American editions of all Mark Twain books published = > during his lifetime. The Oxford volumes are not reproductions of the = > original books' designs and bindings, but they do contain facsimile = > reproductions of their original pages. They include all the titles in = > the Bradford set except _The Mysterious Stranger_, which has no business = > being part of any Mark Twain collection, and at least 17 additional = > titles. If you already have the Oxford set, all the Bradford set will = > add to your collection is _The Mysterious Stranger_ and a lot of = > beautifully reproduced bindings. > > One final mystery: At the Elmira conference, the representative for the = > Bradford set suggested that the world is clamoring for authentic = > reproductions of books such as _The Gilded Age_. Is that true? I wonder. = > I can't imagine many libraries that already own original editions or the = > sturdy Oxford set rushing to buy these facsimiles. Bradford says its set = > is "strictly limited to just 4,999 complete sets worldwide." If that = > means they are actually printing that many books, I think we can be = > confident that most of them will be remaindered at bargain prices. = > However, I suspect they'll start with a much smaller number of books. > -- Arianne Laidlaw A '58