MARK TWAIN :COLLECTED STORIES Illustrated by Roger Fereday A new Folio Society edition celebrating a storytelling genius It was Ernest Hemingway who said, ‘all modern American literature comes from one book called Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain’. As well as being a great novelist, Mark Twain was a brilliant and prolific writer of short stories, using them to capture a dazzling variety of characters, landscapes and registers. This edition gathers together nearly 50 of his greatest tales, revealing his extraordinary versatility: humorous and satirical pieces, parodies, shaggy-dog stories and darker, more suspenseful tales. In three beautiful volumes, illustrated by Roger Fereday and with an introduction by Robert McCrum, this is a collection to savour. Mark Twain first came to the attention of the reading public in 1865, with a short story entitled ‘The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County’. With its easygoing, colloquial wit and its authentic rendering of the California setting, it was an overnight sensation. Twain had managed to capture the American humour and vernacular in literature as no other writer had done before. As his career progressed, his short stories roved further afield, from New York and Ohio to the Arctic Circle and the French Riviera. Though Twain is the quintessential American writer, his short fiction reveals him as a citizen of the world. Whether his topic is a frog-jumping contest in the Wild West or strange events in an Austrian village, Twain’s powers of storytelling are irresistible, and he sweeps the reader along with him from the arresting opening to the final audacious twist. The stories in this collection span Twain’s entire career, from the ‘Jumping Frog’ of 1865, to ‘The Mysterious Stranger’, published posthumously in 1916. Some are satirical: ‘The Story of the Bad Little Boy’ subverts the moralistic children’s tales of the day while ‘A Day at Niagara’ examines the dubious delights of Niagara Falls and lampoons the mythology of the ‘noble Red Man’. Some would appear to be partly autobiographical: ‘Playing Courier’ is a heartfelt account of the difficulty of travelling in Europe (or anywhere) with a large and unwieldy group, while ‘Hunting the Deceitful Turkey’ describes a distinctively American childhood memory with equal humour and vividness. In many of these tales the author’s imagination simply takes wing, with beguiling results. ‘Legend of the Capitoline Venus’ tells of a struggling sculptor whose statue is mistaken for a Roman original. ‘The Belated Russian Passport’ is a shaggy-dog story which follows a hapless student’s misadventures in Europe in the company of a persuasive but unreliable companion. Twain was equally intrigued by and sceptical of religion: ‘The Diary of Adam and Eve’ manages to be both satirical and serious, while ‘Captain Stormfield’s Visit to Heaven’ suggests that the hereafter might be disappointingly similar to life on Earth. With the skill of a ventriloquist, Twain deploys a dazzling variety of registers, dialects and literary styles, switching between them even in a single story. In ‘Political Economy’, the narrator’s desperate attempts to write a serious, learned essay are drowned out by the hypnotic patter of a salesman determined to sell him a lighting rod (or several). In ‘A True Story’, Aunt Rachel, the narrator’s servant, tells of her experiences of slavery, punctuated by her catchphrase, ‘I’s one o’ de ole Blue Hen’s Chickens, I is!’. Twain’s narrators even extend to the animal kingdom, as in ‘A Horse’s Tale’, told by the favourite horse of Buffalo Bill, and ‘A Dog’s Tale’, a heart-rending story of canine loyalty that touches on the emotive subject of animal experimentation. Few writers have ever been funnier than Mark Twain, and there are many passages here that will make the reader laugh out loud. But this collection also shows a darker, more unsettling side of Twain’s work. ‘The Invalid’s Story’ tells of a man tasked with a grim legacy to bury a friend’s body, and is as macabre as anything in William Faulkner’s oeuvre. ‘A Double-Barreled Detective Story’, a chilling, suspenseful tale of marital cruelty and revenge, features a cameo appearance by Sherlock Holmes. All of these diverse and unpredictable tales bear Twain’s hallmark. Reading them, it is easy to see how he has influenced the work of great American writers from Ernest Hemingway to J. D. Salinger. 928 pp A physical description follows... Founded in 1947, The Folio Society applies the highest standards of design, binding, typography and illustration to commercially-produced books. Nearly sixty years on, they publish books that will stand the test of time, in handsome, imaginatively designed and beautifully made editions - a combination of quality and value that few publishers can match. Care and attention is devoted to every detail of the physical attributes of each book. Exacting standards require that every one has a proper sewn binding and comes in a protective slipcase. A wide range of binding materials are employed, from buckram, silk, leather and hand-marbled papers to traditional woven cloth. We choose from a selection of legible and elegant typefaces, seeking to preserve their character through a combination of modern and traditional printing techniques. •DESIGN - Above all, the feature that distinguishes folio books from most others produced today is the rich variety and sophistication of the binding designs. A wide range of traditional materials - such as buckram, cotton, silk or leather - is employed for the bindings. These costly fabrics are the foundation upon which the artists and designers produce their creations. Sometimes their designs are printed in ink, but more often they are blocked - that is to say, impressed with foil into the surface of the material; frequently the two processes are employed together. •BINDING - All books are sewn in 16-page sections: this gives strength to the book and enables the pages to be opened flat with ease. There are decorative head- and tailbands; also gilded or coloured top edges where we feel they are appropriate. The endpapers, in a wide array of colours, are often printed with maps, illustrations or other designs. Most important of all, the books are hardback-bound to the highest standard, so that they not only look well on the shelves but are always a pleasure to open and read. •PAPER & TYPOGRAPHY - In the typography of Folio books the traditional virtues of legibility and elegance are paramount. The selection of paper for a particular book will involve deciding on a shade and character which harmonises with the illustrations and binding materials. The papers for Folio Society books are produced by a small number of European mills, chosen for their ability to produce the highest quality papers with absolute consistency. Books printed on inferior stocks will go brown and brittle within a few years; all Folio books are printed on wood-free and acid-free paper, designed for reading and rereading over many generations. •THE SLIPCASE - A distinctive feature of Folio Society books which immediately strikes the eye is their presentation not in dust-jackets but in slipcases - the traditional protective covering for fine editions. The dustjacket evolved in the 20th century as a marketing device designed to catch the eye in a crowded bookshop. It does not, however, protect the book, and is itself easily damaged. With Folio books the design emphasis is on the binding itself, a permanent part of the book. Fine bindings need protection from dust and light, and this is furnished by the slipcase, which matches the binding materials and design of the book. Folio Society Books are a testament to an uncompromising dedication to the craft of bookmaking, a commitment to striving towards perfection which rises above mere commercial considerations. If you are looking for a fine investment or phenomenal gift idea, consider this as a prime option..
Posted on: Wed, 29 Oct 2014 21:10:09 +0000
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