Sketches New And Old

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

The long-delayed book of Sketches, contracted for five years before its release, was issued in 1875. "The Jumping Frog" is included in the volume, also the French translation which Madame Blanc (Th. Bentzon) had made for the Revue des deux mondes, with Mark Twain's retranslation back into English, a most astonishing performance in its literal rendition of the French idiom. He included a number of sketches originally published with the Frog, also a selection from the " Memoranda" and Buffalo Express contributions,” and he put in the story of Auntie Cord, with some matter which had never hitherto appeared. Among the new matter in the book were "Some Fables for Good Old Boys and Girls," in which certain wood creatures arc supposed to make a scientific excursion into a place at some time occupied by men. It is the most pretentious feature of the book, and in its way about as good as any.