Good question. I looked at that earlier and contemporary papers put them in Ann Arbor and Grand Rapids. No mention of Muskegon. Kevin @ 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: "JULES AUSTIN HOJNOWSKI" <[log in to unmask]> To: [log in to unmask] Sent: 4/8/2020 5:41:32 AM Subject: Re: Mark Twain in Muskegon, MI >Hi >Are there any newspapers from that time from around that area that might have better info? > >:) >Jules > > >Get Outlook for Android<https://aka.ms/ghei36> >________________________________ >From: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> on behalf of Benjamin Griffin <[log in to unmask]> >Sent: Tuesday, April 7, 2020 6:26:05 PM >To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]> >Subject: Re: Mark Twain in Muskegon, MI > >The plot thickens. Through the decency of the HathiTrust Library, which has >given the UC Libraries emergency access to online texts, I've been able to >see In digital copies of the earliest printings of this lost letter. > >In Cyril Clemens's *Mark Twain, the Letter-Writer *(1932), the dateline is >simply "*Michigan, Dec. 1884*." When Cyril Clemens printed this letter >again in the *Mark Twain Quarterly *in 1941, the dateline had grown to >read: "*Muskegon, Michigan, December 4, 1884*." > >There are two possibilities. Either Cyril returned to the manuscript letter >and transcribed it more fully than he had before, OR [a strong nudge here] >he supplied "Muskegon" and "4" out of his own erratic brain. Since both >"December 4" and "Muskegon," as Scott points out, make no sense, I think >it's clear these details are mere invention. Later, no doubt, some well >meaning person made a "correction" from 4 to 14, on the grounds that at >least Clemens was *near *Muskegon on the latter date. Unluckily, they >"corrected" without getting all the facts. (I think it's right to emphasize >again that, for the letters of years we haven't edited yet, MTPO >information isn't as refined as it will be later.) > >So much for Mark Twain's phantom side-excursion to Muskegon! (Rabbit hole? >. . . What rabbit hole?) > >Ben >