The following blurb appeared in today's _New York Times_. The new edition of _Huck Finn_, reviewed here last month by Wesley Britton, is supposed to be published on 1 May 1996, but--for those who can't wait that long--it seems there's now a way to get a copy earlier than that. Taylor Roberts <[log in to unmask]> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Now for an ethical question. You're in a hotel room. Only two books are available. One is a Gideon Bible. The other is the new, unexpurgated edition of Mark Twain's "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," published by Random House. Which do you steal--or take home--with you? If you make off with the Gideon, you pay nothing. If you pilfer the Twain, it will cost you $25. The Gideon will provide balm for your soul. But the Twain will benefit efforts to bring literacy to others. (You could, of course, take both and positively glow with goodness.) The genesis of this soul-searching conundrum is the dinner planned for tonight at the Regency Hotel, where Random House and Loews Hotels are starting up a fund-raising effort for Literacy Partners and other programs that promote adult learning across the country. Throughout this month, copies of the new "Huckleberry Finn," parts of which were discovered in a Hollywood attic six years ago, will be placed in every room of the eight Loews hotels across the country. If a guest takes it, as confirmed by the minibar checker, $25 will be added to the bill and contributed to the cause of literacy. The honorary chairmen of the dinner are Harry Evans, the publisher and president of Random House; Jonathan Tisch, the president and chief executive of Loews Hotels, and Liz Smith, the columnist, who has long been involved in literacy campaigns. "Yes, we're encouraging people to lift things," Mr. Evans said yesterday as he arrived in New York from the Bahamas. "I was once tempted to take a wonderful painting from a hotel in Italy, but that wasn't practical." Nadine Brozan, "Chronicle," _New York Times_, 2 April 1996, p. B5.