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