Traveling with the Innocents Abroad: Mark Twain's Original Reports from Europe and the Holy Land Reissue edition

Publisher Marketing: Here, collected in book form for the first time, are the letters written by Mark Twain on the famous Holy Land Excursion of 1867--letters that Twain once said would ruin him if published. Twain, a brash young journalist with one book under his belt, was one of seventy-seven passengers on the steamship "Quaker City" when it left New York in June 1867, to begin "The Grand Holy Land Pleasure Excursion." As special correspondent for the "Daily Alta California," Twain wrote fifty letters during the next six months, describing in detail the places visited and the sights seen as the pilgrims journeyed from Tangier to Paris, then to Venice, Constantinople, and Bethlehem--with many stops in between. Full of sprightly humor and savage satire, these letters also contain some of the most elegant vituperation ever to appear in an American newspaper. Twain later incorporated parts of the letters into "The Innocents Abroad," probably the most famous travel book ever written by an American, but every letter was drastically revised to appeal to the more refined taste of eastern readers. Daniel Morley McKeithan's discussion of the alterations and deletions made in each letter throws light on Twain's methods of composition and revision. Those who have read "The Innocents Abroad" and those who have not will find equal delight in this volume. Contributor Bio:  Twain, Mark Mark Twain is the pen name of Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835 - 1910). He is the author of the beloved classics The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Life on the Mississippi, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court and The Prince and the Pauper. Contributor Bio:  McKeithan, Daniel Morley Daniel Morley McKeithan was Professor Emeritus of English at the University of Texas and the editor of "A Collection of Hayne Letters, "correspondence of the poet Paul Hamilton Hayne (1830-1886).