A Treasury of Mark Twain - Folio Society Edition

by Mark Twain

In his time, Mark Twain was known variously as the American Rabelais, the American Cervantes, and the American Dickens, but none of these definitions do him justice; he was the one and only American Mark Twain, humorist par excellence. Our Treasury is a priceless collection of vintage Twain. In these stories, satires, travel pieces, speeches, letters and anecdotes, Twain pokes fun at himself and his fellow creatures in places as diverse as the Mississippi riverboats and the castles of Europe. Here are excerpts from longer works, like Tom Sawyer whitewashing his fence, as well as a host of less well-known though equally funny pieces, like Concerning Chambermaids’, ‘Fenimore Cooper’s Literary Offences’ and the delightfully self-mocking ‘An Item Which the Editor Himself Could Not Understand’.

Twain also enjoyed ethical dilemmas. In ‘The £1,000,000 Bank Note’, a penniless American in London receives an eccentric gift with a sting in the tail; in ‘The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg’, an honest town is seduced by the arrival of a mysterious sack of gold. But in the end, ‘It is an honest town once more, and the man will have to rise early that catches it napping again.’ This ending, like all the writings gathered here, sums up Mark Twain’s uniquely irresistible combination of innocent, homespun wisdom and wickedly dry wit.

Genres: Classics, Fiction, Humor, Comedy, Short Stories

266 pages

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Samuel Langhorne Clemens, known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist and essayist. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has produced," with William Faulkner calling him "the father of American literature." His novels include The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and its sequel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884), with the latter often called the "Great American Novel." Twain also wrote A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1889) and Pudd'nhead Wilson (1894), and co-wrote The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today (1873) with Charles Dudley Warner.

Reviews

[Jean · Rating 5 out of 5]

My dad introduced me to Mark Twain when I was a very young girl, and I spent many hours listening as he read Huckleberry Finn, Tom Sawyer and other stories to me before I could read myself. In the early months of my marriage I introduced my husband to this author who had folllowed me from my dad's study to college and then to married life. We laughed so hard we had tears running down our faces. Seven years ago my dad sent me this edition for my birthday. Though I enjoyed the reminder of our common ties to Mark Twain, somehow I never really looked at the book beyond the inscription written in my dad's distinctive print on the first page. Last week as I embarked on my first trip back to Colorado since Dad's funeral in January, I decided it would be fitting to take along the volume of "Tom Sawyer" (somehow that is what I had remembered it being)that Dad had given me. What a wonderful (if somewhat belated) surprise! Tom Sawyer only makes one brief appearance (the whitewashing story), but included are also many short stories, essays, and editorials I had never read before. (Yes, Charlotte, I should have read "Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offenses" before I tried to read The Last of the Mohicans). Anyway, what fun! The sarcastic wit and the satiric humor reminded me at once of Dad (and not only because of our many hours spent with Mark Twain) What a precious gift, which somehow eased the pain of entering my parent's house and finding my dad's chair empty. Thank you, Daddy.

[Amanda · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF at 40%. I found the humor of these stories mean-spirited. I just don’t think Twain’s style is for me.

[Christopher · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice selection of Twain’s short stories, sketches, and excerpts from longer works, some more familiar than others. The collection could have been improved by by putting the selections in chronological order or at least giving the date of publication. Fun to revisit these pieces, but sorry that it lacks the editorial authority of the Library of America’s two-volume collection Twain’s short pieces.

[Raimo Wirkkala · Rating 5 out of 5]

A "treasury", is right. Twain's humour is timeless and herein is found that one uniquely American 'voice'. Highlights of this collection include "The Celebrated Jumping Frog Of Calaveras County"; "Taming The Bicycle"; "Journalism In Tennessee"; "The Great Earthquake In San Francisco"; and "On The Decay Of The Art Of Lying".
An excerpt ("A Day's Work") from "Tom Sawyer" is included but nothing from "Huckleberry Finn". My one quibble.

[Roy Macgregor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of these stories are great; others not so much. However Mark Twain’s worst is better than many authors best. Overall I enjoyed it

[Ian Banks · Rating 4 out of 5]

A mixed bag but the good by far outweighs the merely indifferent.