Mark Twain Collectibles

By Kevin Mac Donnell

MAC DONNELL RARE BOOKS
AUSTIN, TEXAS

Photographs by Emily Joyce

Admirers of Mark Twain were collecting his books and autographs during his lifetime, and after the 1911 auction of several hundred books from his library, the popularity of collecting of relics associated with Twain also grew. Most of these collectors were drawn to Twain because of his writings, and most of their collecting interest focused on his writings and things directly associated with his literary works.

But Twain's influence has not been limited to his career as a writer. His status as a celebrity had a profound cultural impact during his lifetime and his popular image has evolved ever since. Many people don't know Twain through his writings, but instead have a notion of his place in American cultural life based solely on his image and perhaps a few dubious quotations. Twain's name and image were used in the market place from the very beginnings of his literary career in the 1860s until his death in 1910, sometimes with his permission, and much more often without his knowledge. And after his death, his name and image were used to promote products and causes in new and even more distorted ways.

The relics pictured here were selected from a large collection and represent just a small portion of the surviving objects that reflect the commercial use of Twain's name and image during his lifetime and after. The emphasis of this collection is on materials from Twain's lifetime, and includes far less material from the first twenty-five years after his death, and even fewer items after the 1935 centennial of his birth. But make no mistake: the use (and cultural evolution) of Twain's name and image continues unabated today.

Kevin Mac Donnell can be contacted at www.macdonnellrarebooks.com

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The Twain doll on the left may date from Twain's lifetime, but was certainly made no later than the 1920s. The doll on the right is a Eubank doll made in Hannibal, Missouri in the 1930s or early 1940s by Wilma Eubank Pulliam, and the smaller doll at center is a Courtney doll of later vintage.

THE GAME OF AUTHORS was a popular card game, first manufactured in 1861, and has been produced in more than 200 different versions since. By 1869, Twain was being included in decks. The deck shown in front dates from 1873, and the other three all picture Twain himself on the lid of the box, dating from the 1880s to 1910.

Twain patented his self-pasting scrapbook in 1873 and contrary to a popular myth, it was a success. The folding advertising leaflet at bottom is American; the pink leaflet is English, and the catalogue at left dates from 1901 and lists the dozens of formats and bindings available.

Twain's scrapbook came in various leather bindings, a variety of cloth bindings, and even in pocket size manilla covers.

Twain was widely associated with cigar-smoking, and cigar makers found it profitable to use his image and name. The box at left dates from 1889, the box at center from 1909, and the box at right was first used in 1913 and was still in use in the 1930s. The "pug" dog sitting in the middle box was a "counter card" that sat on a drugstore counter to advertise Mark Twain Tobacco. His back legs were hinged to allow him to "stay" all day on the counter.

Insert cards were popular in tobacco products, and Twain was a popular subject. The five cards at left were issued in 1909 by Mogul Egyptian Cigarettes; the large card at center was issued by Heppenheimer in New York in the 1880s; the three small cards at top (from left to right) were issued by Lone Jack (1887), Lever Brothers (1901), and Vice-Regal (1904); the two pieces at bottom are a card and biographical booklet issued by Duke Cigarettes in 1887; and the four cards at right were all issued by Ogden's between 1901 and 1905.

Twain was known for his wide travels, which made his image especially useful to those in the travel industry. Oldsmobile used this picture postcard of Twain to advertise their motor cars in 1906, and Pullman used Twain to advertise it's new passenger train car in 1904. Riding the car with Twain were Theodore Roosevelt, Thomas Edison, and others.

When fountain pens were still in popular use, blotters were an essential desk item, and were a common means of advertising. The blotter at left dates from 1933 with a timely quote by Twain about fear. The blotter at top for Mark Twain Coal dates from 1952, and the blotter at bottom for Grand Rapids Plaster (which may or may not have been used at Twain's home, Stormfield) dates from 1911.

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Mark Twain Flour was introduced in 1900, just two years after this company began milling flour. Shown are two sizes of their flour sacks, and the advertising leaflet announcing their new brands. Mark Twain flour was made until just a few years before the company closed in 1955.

This company registered their trademark in 1918, and began marketing Mark Twain lemons and oranges in 1923.

Starting in the 1940s Mark Twain Shirts were manufactured. This glass counter sign was designed to hold a light bulb. Shown are a Mark Twain shirt and a pair of Mark Twain pants.

Mark Twain Shirts were advertised with tape-measures, rulers, pencil sharpeners, notepads (with Twain quotes on each page), corkscrews, and razors. Also shown is a pen knife advertising Mark Twain Shoes.

Shirts with separate collars were once popular (you could change and wash the collar instead of the whole shirt). Shown are boxes of five different styles of Mark Twain Collars made by Hall & Hartwell, who patented their Mark Twain collar in 1921 and began production the next year. This nearly concludes a complete Mark Twain wardrobe: shirts, collars, pants, and shoes. We have yet to find Mark Twain socks and underwear, and the only Mark Twain brand womens clothing we have seen are Mark Twain mink coats.

Mark Twain attended many dinners, especially toward the end of his life and was famous for his after-dinner speeches, so food makers felt entitled to his name. This 1894 cookbook includes a description of Mark Twain Beef Steak, and the 1910 advertising pamphlet for Sealshipt Oysters includes a story about Twain and William Dean Howells sitting down to an oyster dinner.

Waltham Watch Company published this Twain story in 1918 to promote its watches.

Twain was an early advocate for womens suffrage and was often quoted in the press. The poster was issued in 1910, and the small broadside was issued in 1909 or 1910.

Twain's endorsement of a political cause was a powerful force. The Twain pamphlet at left was issued in opposition to Richard Croker, a New York mayoral candidate of Tammany Hall fame. The pamphlet at right was issued by the New York Copyright League in 1885 or 1886 to push for copyright reform. It carried the facsimile signatures of Twain, Louisa May Alcott, Sarah Orne Jewett, Joel Chandler Harris, W. D. Howells, Whittier, Holmes, and a host of other authors. The large broadside was issued in Hartford in 1871 and used Twain's name. Badly written, there is no internal evidence of Twain's having anything to do with it, and it is not mentioned in his letters or notebooks of the period; he may not have even known his name had been appropriated.

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In advertising pieces issued after Twain's death, Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn are nearly always pictured fishing. This board game was issued by Stoll, Edwards in 1925, and came with four playing pieces, fifteen cards, three dice, and took the players through various adventures.

This very dangerous fishing game was made by Keystone Wood Toys in the 1930s or 1940s, and involved spring-loaded fish that could be "caught" using the two fishing poles and lures supplied. More often than not, the fish simply spring past the poles toward the eyes of the players.

Stoll, Edwards issued this comic book in 1925; the crayons date from the 1940s, and at least two different Twain-related coloring books are also known.

Visitors to historical sites associated with Twain could send postcards to their friends. The top two cards depict the Crane home at Quarry Farm near Elmira, New York, where Twain summered, and the study at Quarry Farm where he wrote HUCKLEBERRY FINN. They date from 1906. The other three cards show Twain's last home at Stormfield and date from 1908-1910, while Twain still lived there. The top card was used by a member of the Stormfield household.

These four postcards show Twain's boyhood home in Hannibal and date from 1904 to 1910. Three of the cards are commercial cards sold to visitors. But the card at upper right is an actual photograph of the home taken by a visitor who had it printed out as a postcard.

At top is a stereoview of Twain's Hartford home by R. S. De Lamater. It dates from about 1875 when Twain was living in the home. Stereoviews were a popular way to memorialize a visit, and at least half-a-dozen different stereoviews of his home are recorded. The three postcards dated from 1898-1906, some years after Twain and his family had moved.

Early visitors to Hannibal could buy Wheelock China plates and sweet dishes (1902-1915) and sterling silver spoons. This spoon is engraved 1902, the same year Twain himself returned to Hannibal to visit his boyhood home. Also shown are paperweights, badges, and a celluloid mirror, all dating from 1902 to 1920.

Later visitors to Twain's boyhood home could remember their visit with fans, license tags, ashtrays, and even a notepad holder and miniature pencil. These tourist souvenirs date from the 1930s and 1940s.

This dust pan, crumb sweeper (known as a silent butler), and tray were issued on January 1, 1901 for members of the Mark Twain Club. The earliest known Mark Twain Club had been established in Ireland in 1875, and another in New York (possibly the club that issued this set) consisted of thirty-two members, including twelve women. Unlike modern fan clubs, these clubs were reading clubs that read and discussed Twain's works.

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Twain's association with steamboats dates from the publication of LIFE ON THE MISSISSIPPI. The bill of lading is from the steamboat mail packet Mark Twain that operated out of Memphis and dates from April 23, 1882. Sometime between May 6 and 21, 1882, Twain himself saw this very steamboat as he floated down the Mississippi toward New Orleans, and in the opening lines of chapter 28 of LIFE ON THE MISSISSIPPI he expressed surprise at the honor of having a steamboat named after him, but could not help but add that he thought the honor was long overdue. The plate dates from 1935, and the postcards (1902-1912) show the steamboat rechristened in Twain's honor in 1902 when he visited St. Louis; Twain himself piloted that steamboat around the harbor.

Dozens of hotels across the country have called themselves "The Mark Twain Hotel." The first one was in Hannibal, and it comes as no surprise to find such hotels in St. Louis and Elmira, but these matchbook covers, dating from 1920 to 1950, include Mark Twain Hotels from Detroit, Minneapolis, Chicago, Gainesville, and even Hollywood. The 1889 advertising brochure for the Ontario Beach resort contains a letter supposedly written by Twain extolling their virtues. Places that Twain visited often used his name to promote themselves, but so did hotels and resorts where he never set foot.

This photo of Twain sitting in a wicker chair at Stormfield was used to boost sales of this sheet music by H. L. Baldwin in 1911.

During his lifetime Twain was plagued by people who traveled around the country impersonating him. Some did this as a fraud and left their hotel bills unpaid. Others were legitimate impersonators -- proto-Hal Holbrooks. As these two broadside advertising sheets attest, Twain was in good company. These programs included readings from Twain, Shakespeare, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Charles Dickens, Tennyson, and Walter Scott. The larger one dates from 1876, and the other is of the same period.

Twain's fame as a lecturer and stage performer made him a natural spokesman for the profession. A turn-of-the-century New England school printed Twain's advice to wannabe writers, and the leaflet from J. B. Pond (Twain's own lecture agent) gave Twain's advice to would-be lecturers.

Twain's quote about Hawaii was used on a variety of printed materials that promoted the Hawaiian tourist trade, but this appearance on a 1916 guitar instruction book is unusual.

Twain's visit to Hawaii in the 1860s resulted in a quote that was widely used to promote Hawaiian tourism. Shown here are a 1906 postcard, a 1908 tourist guide, and the first separate printing of a Twain story printed in Hawaii in the 1920s.

Twain lent his name to a variety of charitable causes. The Congo Reform Association listed Twain on its 1906 fund-raising letterhead. When his lecture agent died in 1903, he helped raise money for the widow and son left behind, and at right is shown an invitation from Twain to his nephew for a benefit performance of THE PRINCE AND THE PAUPER.

The log cabin where Abraham Lincoln was born was sold in 1894 and dragged around the country as a side-show attraction. In 1906, Twain and some others bought the cabin and established the Lincoln Farm Association to buy the original farm so the cabin could be returned to its original location and preserved. Twain, Roosevelt, Taft, Samuel Gompers, and others all signed on, and they raised over $350,000 between 1906 and 1909. The Lincoln Farm was made a national park in 1916. Shown here are the fund-raising leaflet and the certificate sent to those who sent donations.

In 1907 the Actor's Fund of America held a fund-raiser in New York City. Twain lent his name to their promotional materials for the event, and even sat in a booth signing autographs during the fair. Shown are a promotional letter with Twain's mimeographed endorsement, and a copy of THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER signed at the event by Twain, with the sticker still present.

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In 1907, Twain name was invoked in this packet of advertising material sent out to promote a stock offering for a recording device that could be attached to a phone and recorded the sound on electro-magnetic disks about the same size as modern CDs.

This maker of shaving soap used famous faces to promote their product in 1903. Among the faces were Twain, Roosevelt, Kipling, Paderewski, J. P. Morgan, Thomas Edison, General Nelson Miles, and J. P. Bryan.

Twain crossed the Atlantic several times, and trans-Atlantic steamship lines used him to promote their business. Twain wrote a letter praising the bravery of a Cunard Line crew that saved people from a storm-tossed steamer in 1872, and in 1873 they reprinted his letter in their promotional leaflet. In 1896 the North German Lloyd Line got hold of a Twain letter explaining his scheme to steam back and forth across the Atlantic writing a book, and printed it the souvenir booklet they gave passengers.

Twain encouraged this woman to collect her fictional letters into a book and she took his advice. She also borrowed an extract from his speech to the Associated Press praising her work by printing it in a promotional leaflet for her book. Shown are the 1908 book (in dust jacket), the promotional leaflet, and a promotional cabinet photograph of the author. Using the words of one author to puff the writings of another was nothing new, but Twain was victimized more than most.

John Knox was a famous Scotchman whose home in Edinburgh was the oldest private residence in the city, and Twain praised this 1898 book about Knox and his house. When a new edition was published in 1905, Twain's letter of praise was extracted and printed on a promotional card.