DEAR JOHN, Of course Emperor Norton was real. He is buried in Colma south of San Francisco, I believe. He lives in legend throughout the City of San Francisco. The short street named for Twain is in the area that Norton frequented. We have the book you speak of in the school library. I have read the Twain portions of it. When I get back to school at the end of the week I can check it out for you and see if there is anything worthy which hasn't been mentioned. The author suggests that Norton is a plausible inspiration for the King and dwells on the dress and eccentricities attributed to both the king and to the emperor. He notes that Blair chose a different inspiration and he respectfully disagrees. He also wonders why there is no Twain write up of such an outstanding type. He also cites four writers of the time who could have done the job. There is a short biography from a Jewish perspective which questions why Norton's fellow Jews were not active in his support nor present for his burial. And there are a lot of references to Norton in histories of the city. Dennis Kelly