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The following review appeared 27 March 2024 on the Mark Twain Forum.
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While Mark Twain's books were usually illustrated, hundreds of his journalistic writings were never illustrated in their original newspaper appearances, although a young Sam Clemens illustrated two of his Hannibal pieces himself in September 1852. So, it is welcome news that the ten stories chosen for this slender volume, which exhibit all of the characteristics of Twain's early newspaper journalism, have the added bonus that they are accompanied by 51 illustrations that enhance Twain's humor. But to fully appreciate and understand this latest book from Thomas Reigstad some context is in order.
It has been supposed that when Mark Twain sold his stake in the Buffalo Express in 1871 and moved to Hartford, it marked a milestone in his literary career, as he left journalism behind and entered the realm of literature. The truth is that he never really abandoned the journalistic roots that he first planted in Hannibal when he went to work at his brother's newspaper, roots that he continued to cultivate as he moved around the country, most notably in Nevada and California, before arriving in Buffalo. The lessons he learned as a journalist, imitating the techniques of southwestern humor and borrowing from the bag of goofy tricks favored by Phunny Phellows like Artemus Ward, would serve him all his life, and can be detected in his writings from decades later by astute readers.
But readers of Mark Twain do not need to be astute to notice that nearly all of Twain's books were heavily illustrated, often featuring Twain himself, a reflection of his writings, of course, in which he often featured himself as a character. In fact, the illustrations accompanying his words were usually carefully supervised and approved by Twain himself. This was true of Twain's first bestselling book, The Innocents Abroad (1869), which was published at the very moment when he set foot in the offices of the Buffalo Express. Illustrations would become such an integral part of Twain's literary art that when his writings are reprinted today without them, the reader may rightfully feel short-changed.
During the more than one hundred years since Twain's death, his works have inspired many distinguished artists, with the result that some, like Norman Rockwell's paintings of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn, have become iconic, with Rockwell's fence-painting scene even appearing on a US postage stamp, ceramic statues, and elsewhere. Others, like Worth Brehm's depictions of Tom (1910) and Huck (1923), have influenced how those boys have been portrayed in movies ever since, even surpassing the visual influence of their original portrayals by True Williams (1876) and E. W. Kemble (1885).
This volume recognizes and reflects this context. Four of the
pieces included carry illustrations that appeared with Twain's blessing when
they were first published in the Buffalo Express, during his time as
co-owner and co-editor. The illustrator, John Harrison Mills, produced crude
comical woodblock cuts (not fine engravings) for "A Day at Niagara,"
"English Festivities," "Journalism in Tennessee," and
"The 'Wild Man.' 'Interviewed.'" Twain himself cut the woodblock
for his well-known map of the "The Fortifications of Paris" that
accompanied his pieces mocking contemporary sensational newspaper coverage
of the Franco-Prussian War. Also included are facsimiles of the amusing headlines
Twain designed to give his biting satire even more of a bite.
The pieces in this selection that were collected just a few years later in
Twain's second volume of short stories, Sketches, New and Old (1875),
were illustrated by artist True Williams, best-known for his drawings for
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876), and seventeen of those are reproduced
here. In 1978, four of these stories appeared in the Courier-Express Sunday
Magazine with illustrations by Tom Toles, who later won a Pulitzer Prize
for his cartoon work, and then went to work for the Washington Post,
from where he retired in 2020. His one dozen Twain illustrations in this book
clearly reflect the talent for which he was later recognized.
One story, "A Curious Dream," was illustrated by Bill
Watterson, known to all Twainians for his ten iconic postcards designed for
the Mark Twain Journal before he achieved lasting fame for his sorely-missed
comic strip, Calvin and Hobbes. Two of his drawings appear here. Finally,
Adam Zyglis, the current editorial cartoonist for the Buffalo News,
drew two original illustrations especially for this volume, and two more illustrations
he drew previously for the Buffalo News adorn the front and back covers
of this volume. Readers will enjoy tracing the elements of Twain's texts that
inspired each artist and comparing the results.
Thomas Reigstad has nicely biographed all of these illustrious illustrators,
and a portrait of each man accompanies their biographies, along with Reigstad's
informative notes on the background and circumstances of each story. This
is not Reigstad's first examination of Twain's Buffalo Express writings.
His first book on the subject, Scribblin' for a Livin' (2013, and reviewed
by yours truly in the Mark Twain Forum) established his place as an authority
on Twain's Buffalo years. Other books have focused on Twain's Buffalo years:
Henry Duskis's The Forgotten Writings of Mark Twain (1963), Joseph
B. McCullough and Janice McIntire-Strasburg's Mark Twain at the Buffalo
Express (1999), and Robert H. Hirst and Patrick E. Martin's Mark Twain
in Buffalo (2010), for example. The Duskis volume must be used with caution,
but the others are reliable and extremely useful. Twain scholars Louis J.
Budd, Martin Fried, Bruce McElderry, Bruce Michelson, Gary Scharnhorst, Arthur
L. Scott, and Jeffrey Steinbrink have also written on Twain's Buffalo years
and writings.
This attractive volume offers insights into a previously unknown
collaboration between Twain and one of his illustrators, combines illustrations
from different eras that help clarify some of Twain's topical satire for modern
readers, and it covers a range of topics that resonate today: sensational
journalism, taxes, tourism, the public's fascination with royalty, and deflating
the famous. Reigstad's presentation of these ten pieces is both informative
and funny, like Mark Twain himself.