Pirated Sketches, Old and New

Samuel Clemens spent his entire writing career fighting to protect his intellectual property. While working as a young newspaper reporter, he benefited from the newspaper exchanges that spread the name of Mark Twain across the country. Although the unauthorized—pirated—appearances of his “jumping frog” story had made him famous, he soon discovered that contemporary copyright laws, especially international copyright law, provided little protection.

In 1870, Clemens purchased the rights to his “jumping frog” book from its first publisher, even as the story continued to reappear in books, newspapers and magazines, including a San Francisco business directory. His new publisher, Elisha Bliss, stalled the publication of his collected sketches, so he produced “a good fat 25 cent pamphlet” which proved to be an unprofitable venture. In 1875, Bliss’s American Publishing Company finally published Mark Twain’s Sketches, New and Old in blue cloth, with “Sketches by Mark Twain” stamped in gilt on the front cover.

In 1879, Canadian publisher Alexander Belford published Sketches by Mark Twain in nearly identical gilt blue cloth. His edition was issued without permission and contained much of the same material that appeared in the authorized 1875 edition. Clemens sued Belford for infringement of his pen name—the first attempt by an author to claim trademark of a pseudonym. Clemens lost the lawsuit because Belford had properly credited the stories to Mark Twain.

In December 1906, Mark Twain was invited to the Library of Congress to speak before the Joint Congressional Committee on Patents. He favored a bill that would extend domestic copyright protection to fifty years past an author’s death. His advocacy helped lead to a revised copyright law in 1909, but his testimony before Congress is perhaps more famous as the first time that Mark Twain appeared in public wearing his now iconic white suit.

Mark Twain. Autograph letter signed to publisher Elisha Bliss, Jr. Buffalo, New York, December 22, 1870. Final page of a three page letter.
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Mark Twain’s first book, The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County & Other Sketches, had been edited and published by Charles H. Webb, who never paid Clemens any royalties on the approximately 4,000 copies sold. Clemens later negotiated with Webb—paying him for the rights to his book. He announced the deal in this letter to his new publisher.

From the collection of Susan Jaffe Tane

[Mark Twain.] J. Price and C. S. Haley. The Buyer’s Manual and Business Guide: Being a Description of the Leading Business Houses...with Copious and Readable Selections, Chiefly from California Writers. San Francisco: Francis & Valentine, 1872.
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An obscure San Francisco business directory, this volume contains early printings of several classics of California fiction: Mark Twain’s “The Jumping Frog” and Bret Harte’s “Luck of Roaring Camp,” as well as Ambrose Bierce’s “Town Crierisms,” which is the first appearance in book form of anything by Bierce.

From the collection of Susan Jaffe Tane

Mark Twain. Mark Twain’s Sketches. Number One. New York: American News Company, 1874. First edition, first issue.
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Clemens had the American News Company produce an inexpensive pamphlet that included his “jumping frog” story. This attempt at selling his sketches in a series—as the “No. 1” at the head of the title indicates—did not prove profitable and the series was abandoned.

From the collection of Susan Jaffe Tane

Mark Twain. Detail from Number One. Mark Twain’s Sketches. New York: American News Company, ca. 1874.
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Detail of page 9 showing an illustration of “The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.”

Mark Twain. Mark Twain’s Sketches, New and Old. Hartford, Connecticut: American Publishing Company, 1875.
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The authorized collection of Mark Twain’s sketches in its first American edition.

From the collection of Susan Jaffe Tane

Mark Twain. Mark Twain’s Sketches, New and Old. Hartford, Connecticut: American Publishing Company, 1875.
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Detail of page 28 showing two illustrations of “The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.”

Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections
Cornell University Library

Mark Twain. Sketches by Mark Twain: Now First Published in Complete Form. Toronto: Belfords, Clarke & Company, 1879. First edition.
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This pirated Canadian edition of Mark Twain’s sketches prompted Clemens to sue for copyright infringement.

From the collection of Susan Jaffe Tane

Mark Twain. Mark Twain’s Sketches, New and Old. Hartford, Connecticut: American Publishing Company, 1893.
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The American Publishing Company still owned the rights to Mark Twain’s earlier works and republished his collected sketches just as Clemens signed a new publishing contract with Harper & Brothers.

Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections
Cornell University Library

Mark Twain. Manuscript draft of the preface to Mark Twain’s Sketches New and Old, dated March 1875 and signed “Mark Twain.”
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In his preface Mark Twain writes:

I have scattered through this volume a mass of matter which has never been in print before (such as "Learned Fables for Good Old Boys and Girls," the "Jumping Frog restored to the English tongue after martyrdom in the French," the "Membranous Croup" sketch, and many others which I need not specify): not doing this in order to make an advertisement of it, but because these things seemed instructive.

Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections
Cornell University Library

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