The Spring 2024 issue of the MARK TWAIN JOURNAL contains my latest study related to Twain’s reading, an essay describing how Mark Twain and his friend William Dean Howells seem to have supplied each other with topics and situations they employed in their autobiographical and fictional writings about boyhood.

Congratulations to Joe B. Fulton for continuing to serve the Mark Twain community by editing and publishing the MARK TWAIN JOURNAL. Not only are the contents wide-ranging, but the visual images accompanying each article enhance the essay. Where else can one gain information about George Griffin, Twain’s butler, (Kevin MacDonnell) or Nina Gabrilowitsch, Twain’s granddaughter, (Alan Rankin)? From what other source can a reader learn about Twain’s fascination with conjoined twins from a medical perspective (K. Patrick Ober, MD), Twain’s actual experiences behind LIFE ON THE MISSISSIPPI (Michael H. Marleau), and an expose of Twain’s supposed birth house (Gary Scharnhorst)?

John Pascal teaches an Honors course devoted to Mark Twain (now in its eighth year) at Seton Hall Preparatory School in New Jersey. Recently the class studied Twain’s travel readings as collected and edited by Alan Gribben and Jeffrey Alan Melton (University of Alabama Press, 2009). In this Spring issue of the MARK TWAIN JOURNAL, Pascal quotes from his students’ 21st-century reactions to Twain’s 19th- century observations on the scenes he encountered while traveling.

Irene and I look forward to every issue, which we always read cover to cover. Thanks, Joe.