Life, 1910-06-30 · page 35 of 41
Life — June 30, 1910 — page 35: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is primarily a **book advertisement**, not a political cartoon. The page announces Harper & Brothers' new affordable edition of Mark Twain's complete works—25 volumes for $25 (half the previous $50 price). The key appeal: Twain himself made this "great personal sacrifice" to fulfill his ambition of placing his books "in every American home." This was historically significant because copyrighted books had never before been sold at non-copyrighted prices. The page includes endorsements from literary critic Brander Matthews, positioning Twain alongside Molière and Cervantes as a canonical writer. The edition features portraits and illustrations by prominent artists, printed on quality paper in silk cloth binding. The marketing emphasizes Twain's works as timeless ("breathes his spirit—the spirit of eternal youth") and includes a facsimile of Twain's own signature authorizing this edition. Coupons allow readers to order directly from the publisher at Franklin Square, New York City.
📄 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 Franklin Square, New York City a MARK TWAIN’S WORKS AT 1/2 PRICE tings at is a new This OW for the first time you get a complete set of all Mark Twain's w just exactly one-half the price they have ever been sold before. Th as complete as the old one, which still sells, by the way, at $50.00. new edition is only $25.00—for the 25 volumes. 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. | Never before has a copyrighted library set of a standard author’s works been issued at low figure. This complete set of all the great humorist’s works breathes his spirit—the sj of eternal youth—they are new books; to own them v to have new books, a fountain of youth. They never age, because humor, dliness 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. This edition includes his later collected writings, such as s Diary," etc., etc. 5 ABROAD (Vol. I.) ‘NOC TS ABROAD (Vol. II.) 3. A TRAMP ABROAD (Vol. . A TRAMP nore (Vol. II.) FOLLOW! THE EQUATOR (Vol. I.) EQUATOR (Vol. IL.) I. 1.) There are beautiful picture 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, 5x 7}4 inches. HARPER & BROTHERS, sii Yor en A NEW EDITION Brander Matthews says: “Mark Twain will be included in that group of writers headed by Molicre and Cervantes. With the exception of Count Tolstoi, Twain was the great- est of recent modern writers and will be handed down to posterity through the trio 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 English literature.” HARPER & © BROTHERS ©” Franklin Square New York City mY A calarseoed fi xpiratios hat time at the e if Ido not care for the books, I will return them at your expense 11 {sii remit $2.00 prige, $2540, fas been paid or, with payment in full. Send books to, A friend migbt cate to use the coupon abore. comicbooks.com *