Life, 1910-06-09 · page 39 of 40
Life — June 9, 1910 — page 39: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is primarily a **book advertisement**, not political satire. Harper & Brothers publishers are promoting a new affordable complete edition of Mark Twain's works at half the previous price ($25 rather than $50 for 25 volumes). The page features a **portrait of Mark Twain** at top and includes an endorsement from literary critic **Brander Matthews**, praising Twain alongside Cervantes and claiming he'll be remembered through works like *Huckleberry Finn* and *Tom Sawyer*. The ad emphasizes this was Twain's personal ambition—to place his books in "every American home"—and frames the price reduction as historically unprecedented for copyrighted works. The edition includes illustrations by prominent contemporary artists and reproductions of photographs from periods when different books were written. **For modern readers**: This reflects early 20th-century publishing practices and Twain's stature as America's foremost humorist, positioning affordable literature as democratizing and culturally valuable.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
A friend might care to use the coupon below Signature Send books to %. HARPER & BROTHERS a Franklin Square, New York City at the expira as payment in full, er MARK. TWAIN’S WORKS AT 1/2 PRICE OW for the first time you get a complete set of all Mark Twain's writings at just exactly one-half the price they have ever been sold before. This is a new edition, just as complete as the old one, which still sells, by the way, at $50.00. This new edition is only $25.00—for the 25 volumes. A NEW EDITION Brander Matthews “Mark Twain will be included says in that group of writers headed Cervantes. It had been Mark Twain's ambition to have his books in every American home, and he made a great personal sacrifice to bring about this remarkable opportunity—for the first time in the history of publishing copyrighted books are sold at the price of non-copyrighted books—the chance will not come again. But for Mark Twain's action this would have been impossible. ver before has a copyrighted library set of a standard author's works been issued at such a low figure. This complete set of all the great humorist’s works breathes his spirit—the spirit of eternal youth—they are new books; to own them is always to have new books, a fountain of youth. They never age, because humor, kindliness and truth never grow old. Mark Twain himself wrote a preface to this edition. Brander Matthews has written the biographical criticism of Mark Twain and his work. There are portraits of the author from photographs and paintings taken at periods when the different books were in process of writing. his edition includes his later collected writings, such as “Eve's Diary,” etc., ete. 3 ABROAD (Vol. I.) INNOCENTS ABROAD (Vol. IL.) RAMP ABROAD (Vol. 1.) RA IAD (Vol, II PUDD'NH THE PRI A CONNECTICUT YAN ARC (Vol. I.) RC (Vol. R -) TOR (Vol. 1.) SAWYER -EBERRY FINN There are beautiful pictures by such artists as Brown, Frost, Newell, Beard, Dielman, Smedley, Thulstrupp, Clinedinst, Mora, Weldon, Kemble, Gilbert, Du Mond, Merrill Opper, The binding is in rich red rep silk book cloth, with title labels stamped in gold. The books are printed on white antique wove paper, especially made for this edition, Each volume is of generous size and bulk, 5 x 714 inches. HARPER & BROTHERS, Siv’Yer.ceny™ THE WILLIAMS PRINTING COMPANY by Moliere and With the exception of Count Tolstoi, Twain was the great- est of recent: modern writers and will be handed down to posterity through the (rio of his works, ‘Huckleberry Finn,” ‘Tom Sawyer’ and ‘Pudd'n- head Wilson.” Twain is a greater stylist than Stevenson or Thoreau, and his ‘Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg’ is one of the finest works in inglish literature.” *~ yy HARPER & BROTHERS Franklin Square New York City Send books to. A friend might cate to use the coupon above, comicbooks.com