Mark Twain's Library of Humor is an 1888 anthology of short humorous works compiled by Mark Twain, William Dean Howells and Charles Hopkins Clark.
In 1880, George Gebbie suggested to Mark Twain that he publish an anthology of humorous works. The idea eventually worked out into a project financed by Clemens to produce an anthology of American humor with himself as editor and Howells and Clark assisting. Clemens actually did the least work on the project, but he remained in control the whole time and had the final say in everything. He realized how minor his role had been and wanted to put Howells's name on the title page, but a legal agreement with Harper and Brothers that his name would only appear on their publications prevented this, and Harper and Brothers wanted $2,500 (approximately $50,000 with inflation) for a release, compelling Howells to sign the Introduction as "The Associate Editors." The book was published in 1888 by Charles L. Webster & Company. When that firm collapsed in 1894, Harper and Brothers took over the publication of all of Clemens's works. The Library of Humor was a valuable piece, containing many copyrighted works by many distinguished and popular authors. Secretary of Harper and Brothers Frederick A. Duneka had it revamped and expanded by Burges Johnson for a several-volume revival in 1906. The title and Apology were kept, but the result was wildly different (Clemens's reaction is mildly suggested by the title of Johnson's Fall 1937 article in the Mark Twain Quarterly, "When Mark Twain Cursed Me"); so different, in fact, that one authority has said that it should have really been called The Harper Library of Humor.
Famous quotes containing the words mark twain, mark, twain, library and/or humor:
“But that’s always the way; it don’t make no difference whether you do right or wrong, a person’s conscience ain’t got no sense, and just goes for him anyway.... It takes up more room than all the rest of a person’s insides, and yet ain’t no good, nohow. Tom Sawyer thinks the same.”
—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)
“I doubt that I would have taken so many leaps in my own writing or been as clear about my feminist and political commitments if I had not been anointed as early as I was. Some major form of recognition seems to have to mark a woman’s career for her to be able to go out on a limb without having her credentials questioned.”
—Ruth Behar (b. 1956)
“Huck waited for no particulars. He sprang away and sped down the hill as fast as his legs could carry him.”
—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)
“Madam, a circulating library in a town is as an evergreen tree of diabolical knowledge; it blossoms through the year. And depend on it ... that they who are so fond of handling the leaves, will long for the fruit at last.”
—Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751–1816)
“Affection, indulgence, and humor alike are powerless against the instinct of children to rebel. It is essential to their minds and their wills as exercise is to their bodies. If they have no reasons, they will invent them, like nations bound on war. It is hard to imagine families limp enough always to be at peace. Wherever there is character there will be conflict. The best that children and parents can hope for is that the wounds of their conflict may not be too deep or too lasting.”
—New York State Division of Youth Newsletter (20th century)