Mark Twain Marginalia

This is one of my favorite examples of Mark Twain Marginalia because it shows not only his humor but his knowledge of fame and how it lives on.

A signed copy of the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn to Edward & Charles Sisson of San Francisco on March 12, 1885.

"Some people can smoke to excess. Let them beware. There are others [who] can't smoke to excess because there isn't time enough in the day which contains only 24 hours. But never mind about that: The matter which touches me much nearer is the question who got this book from poor Edward & Charles?"

Truly Yours,
-Mark Twain

To the left of Twain's signature are two "sparring" figures Twain drew and what appears to be the words "guess it."

What's amazing is that the man who "got the book" from poor Edward & Charles made note of it!

J.M Barrie August 1908.

And! he signs it over to the new owner, Michael Llewelyn Davies, on June 16, 1910.

This very interesting piece of Twain Marginalia is at Yale University's Beinecke Library.


There is additional Marginalia examples at the Mark Twain Library in Redding and the Mark Twain House in Hartford.

Our favorite Redding marginalia is in the margin of Saratoga 1901 by Eli Perkins & Lumley:

"Saratoga in 1891(sic) or The Droolings of an Idiot"

View article/post on Hartford's Mark Twain Marginalia.

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