Mark Twain and Libraries

     I wrote recently about useless knowledge and will here offer more of it. In the post about fellowships I indicated that I was pleased that some scholars were still able to make a living by studying subjects which seem likely to yield little that is not perceived by most to be without worth. Unlike the Wall Street “quants”, however, who invent useless financial tools which yield high returns for themselves at great costs to others, the “harmless drudges” are mostly just that. Here is another literary toiler who has worked hard for many years on the subject of Mark Twain's books. A consideration of his work and of Twain allows us to continue to avoid more pressing political and environmental concerns.

      As Twain said, “the secret of getting ahead is getting started”, so now that that first paragraph is out of the way I can quickly move on to him and the subject of libraries. I can’t say that I thought of Twain as being ‘bookish’, and associated him more with steamboating and adventures along the Mississippi and elsewhere, mainly outside. I was wrong since there is a new book about Twain’s books and, apart from having had a sizeable library, Twain's name is now associated with other libraries, one of which was relatively close by.

    Mark Twain’s Literary Resources: A Reconstruction of His Library and Reading is the title of a new book by Dr. Alan Gribben. It comes after an earlier book on the subject (Mark Twain’s Library, 1980), which came after a 2,000+ page dissertation on the subject, and all of this will be followed by two more volumes about Twain’s library. Such an interest is not unusual; just think of Twain’s library as his hard drive. From it one can learn what he was reading and how certain books may have influenced his thinking. Since Twain was a great producer of marginalia one can learn about his reactions, particularly his dislikes, which he relegated to his “Library of Literary Hogwash”. And Gribben is not the only one scrutinizing what Twain studied. Two other scholars worked together (on a fellowship, I might add) to go through all the French marginalia in the works that Twain used to write Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc.

Mark Twain's Personal Library

  Unfortunately the books in Twain’s library were sold at auctions many years ago. Apart from studying Twain’s books, Professor Gribben has spent over 40 years travelling across the continent just to locate and identify them. Once again, he is not alone; an antiquarian book dealer in Austin, Texas has amassed the largest private collection of Twain material and he is the one you should contact if you are looking for a first edition of Pudd’nhead Wilson. You can visit the room that would have held many of them in the Mark Twain House & Museum in Hartford, CT.

Mark Twain Libraries

There are libraries that are named (or branded, as they now say) for Twain and one of them was founded by him. It is located in Redding, CT. Another was closer by in Detroit, but as you can see from the pictures below, it is no longer open.

Sources: To be quickly up to snuff on things Twainian just go to these two websites.
Start by visiting the site of Dr. Alan Gribben, Scholar and Editor. Go then to Elmira College which houses the Center for Mark Twain Studies. To buy a rare copy of a Twain book, consult Kevin Mac Donnell at Mac Donnell Rare Books in Austin, TX.
Post Script: Those of you who are surprised by this degree of scholastic devotion should know that there are often entire journals/periodicals/magazines/newsletters devoted to single individuals. In this case, see the Mark Twain Journal which has been around since 1936. Dr. Gribben is the current editor.