TWAINIAN

[TWAIN, MARK] [Clemens, S. L.] Brownell, George Hiram, and Chester L. Davis, editors. THE TWAINIAN. 1939-1989. Vol. I-III (old series) and Vol. I, number 1 to vol. 48, number 4 (new series), both complete, an unbroken run, with 14 issues from 1942-44 in old photocopy, and one of the earlier issues inscribed and signed by George Hiram Brownell, the original editor. Original self-wrappers, stapled, as issued. A complete run through 1989. There was no issue for July/August, 1960 (19:4) and the Special Mark Twain Number of `The American Book Collector' (also present here) was sent out instead with a rubber-stamp notice on it saying that it was being sent as a substitute for that issue. This newsletter began with the Mark Twain Society of Chicago, which became the Mark Twain Association of America in 1942, and after the death of the first editor (George H. Brownell) in 1950, was eventually published as the newsletter of Chester Davis' "Mark Twain Research Foundation." It is still published today as a newsletter of the Mark Twain Birthplace Memorial in Florida, Missouri. It began with just 30 subscribers (150 were printed, of which 30 were mailed, 20 kept for the files, and 100 sent out to prospective subscribers), and by the 1940s 200 were being printed; by the 1960s 300 were being printed, and by the 1980s it was up to just over 400 copies. Brownell's issues are gossipy, full of news and personality, and are fun reading; Davis's are dull and full of filler (articles reprinted from other sources, his spotty bibliography of current research, etc.); the issues since Davis' death in 1987 have been edited by several staff members and associates of the Mark Twain Birthplace Shrine in Florida, Missouri, and consist mostly of book reviews and birthplace shrine news. Three issues contain first printings of Twain's works, and two dozen issues contain writings by Twain reprinted for the first time from newspapers and magazines.