Well, you caught me in a good mood, the weather clear, my hopes bright, birds chirping nearby, and feeling more charitable than I've felt in months. So, you might have to factor this in when I grade Mr. Neider on a curve, but I'd give him an F. That's his grade as an editor. As for popularizing Twain, he seemed quite good at PR, either promoting himself or Twain. Kevin @ Mac Donnell Rare Books 9307 Glenlake Drive Austin TX 78730 512-345-4139 You can browse our books at: www.macdonnellrarebooks.com ------ Original Message ------ From: "Dave Davis" <[log in to unmask]> To: [log in to unmask] Sent: 2/14/2024 10:04:40 AM Subject: Charles Neider, editorial reputation? >https://www.edseditions.com/pages/books/192304/mark-twain/the-adventures-of-colonel-sellers-edited-with-an-introduction-notes-by-charles-neider > >I'm reading in this version, while I wait for my Library of American volume >to come in the mail. >In it, Neider took the liberty of excising Warner's chapters, leaving >SLC's, and explained why he thought that was a good idea. Apparently >Doubleday (the publishers) thought so as well. I guess there was market >demand for 'new' Twain works in the American book market at the time. > >What is anyone's view of Neider's editorial work on MT, nowadays? He got >out several volumes of Twain material -- (see list below) --the stuff that >was on the shelves when I first wandered into my Jr. High School library in >the late 60's. I read and enjoyed his edition of the Autobiography, which >included some previously unpublished chapters and excellent period >photographs, including the "rocking chair" series which SLC annotated. > >Like Holbrook, Neider did a lot of this Twain-related work during the last >decade of Clara Clemens's life and tenure of the Estate. > >From Wikipedia-- > > >"Neider edited a major edition of the Autobiography of Mark Twain, >published in 1959. In this, he expressed regret that Twain's daughter Clara >Clemens would not permit him to include Samuel Clemens' dictations from >June 1906 (the 19th, 20th, 22nd, 23rd, and 25th).[6] > >"Other Mark Twain Publications he edited include: > > > - The Complete Short Stories of Mark Twain (1957) > - The Autobiography of Mark Twain (1959) > - The Complete Humorous Sketches and Tales of Mark Twain (1961) > - Mark Twain: Life As I Find It (1961) > - The Travels of Mark Twain (1961) > - Complete Essays of Mark Twain (1963) > - The Adventures of Colonel Sellers (1965) > - The Complete Travel Books of Mark Twain (1966) > - Mark Twain (1967) > - The Comic Mark Twain Reader (1977) > - The Selected Letters of Mark Twain (1972) > - A Tramp Abroad (1977) > - Plymouth Rock and the Pilgrims and Other Salutary Platform Opinions > (1984) > - Papa: An Intimate Biography of Mark Twain by Susy Clemens (1985) > - Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1985) > - Mark Twain at His Best: A Comprehensive Sampler (1986) > - The Outrageous Mark Twain (1987)." > >(The ones in that listing that were authored entirely by Neider, I don't >know anything about.) > >Thoughts? /DDD