Dear Twainians,

I was just watching the afternoon news and a reporter mentioned that Mark
Twain was very skeptical about Shakespeare as a writer.  The reporter said
that Twain even _did lectures_ on the subject, that he argued that, given
his education, life experience and other background information,
Shakespeare wasn't _capable_ of writing all of the works credited to him.
I find this to be _very_ interesting, and I would be delighted to know any
facts you might have related to this topic.  I know that he wrote a book
_Is Shakespeare Dead?_ (though I haven't had the opportunity to read it
yet), but this was done rather late in Twain's life.

Also, I just got home from the bookstore, where I browsed through the new
_Huck Finn_ edition from Random House.  Although I am excited about its
content, and will buy it as soon as I have some extra money, I have to
admit that I am a bit disappointed about some, perhaps superficial,
aspects:  The book is _not_ printed on acid-free paper;  It has a paper
wrapping, instead of cloth, around its cover;  The Kemble illustrations are
never and bigger than half a page in length.

Perhaps I'm am being fussy, but I was expecting the opposite of these
things: acid-free paper, so the pages wouldn't yellow after a few years; a
cloth cover, so that it wouldn't wear so quickly and badly; and more
attention to the illustrations--at least a page for each!

Anyway, I'd appreciate your comments regarding the former topic, but the
latter is just an opinion on my part--I still plan to, and encourage others
to also, _buy the book_!

Respectfully,
John W. Young