Coming to Buffalo as a young man with a background as an itinerant printer's apprentice, newspaper reporter, and popular lecturer, Twain began his brief but impactful tenure at the Buffalo Express in 1869. One of his first decisions as managing editor was to accompany each of his Saturday feature stories with an illustration. But the sketches didn't stop there. For more than a century, illustrators have kept coming back to Twain's original Express stories to add their own drawings to the humorist's legacy. The Illustrated Mark Twain and the Buffalo Express collects ten feature stories published by Twain in the Buffalo Express during his year-long tenure at the publication, accompanied by illustrations drawn by five artists over a span of nearly 115 years alongside insightful analysis from author and Twain scholar Thomas J. Reigstad. There is the drawing by Twain himself, created in 1870; originals by Express staff artist John Harrison Mills in the fall of 1969; and those featured alongside his Express stories by his favorite contemporary illustrator, True Williams, who would be the principal illustrator of Twain's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Sketches, New and Old. This book also includes 10 humorous illustrations created by Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Tom Toles for a 1978 Buffalo Courier-ExpressSunday Magazine series reprinted here for the first time, as well as a cartoon drawn in 1983 for the Mark Twain Journal by Bill Watterson, the cartoonist and author of the comic strip "Calvin and Hobbes." Finally, this volume contains two 21st-century caricatures of Twain, one as he looked in his early 30s in Buffalo and a second of him decades later as a literary lion, drawn by cartoonist Adam Zyglis - another Pulitzer Prize-winner - for the Buffalo News. Ranging from his first impression of Niagara Falls to the deteriorating condition of a cemetery in his Buffalo neighborhood, to more satirical statements on the state of American journalism, Twain's Buffalo Express stories from 1869 and 1870 stand the test of time. But their entertainment value is vastly increased when coupled with visual interpretations provided by talented illustrators (including Twain himself) of yesterday and today.
Thomas J. Reigstad is a renowned Mark Twain scholar and emeritus professor of English at the State University of New York College at Buffalo. Among other publications, he is the author of many articles on Mark Twain in The Mark Twain Encyclopedia, Western New York Heritage, the Mark Twain Society Bulletin, and other publications.
"Another welcome edition by Thomas J. Reigstad adds to our appreciation of Mark Twain's early days in Buffalo. Each piece in this collection--combined with images drawn by cartoonists and illustrators across many decades (and one by Mark Twain, himself)--elicits chuckles. Twain's comments on Niagara Falls, fake news, cemeteries, war, and taxes still sting smartly today. Reigstad's efforts to gather and comment on Twain's Buffalo pieces--paired with the work of fine cartoonists and illustrators--makes for an enjoyable, illuminating read." - Barbara Snedecor, former director of the Center for Mark Twain Studies at Elmira College and author of Gravity--Selected Letters of Olivia Langdon Clemens "Mark Twain said he was gratified to be ignorant of art because those who understand it 'find nothing in pictures but blemishes.' He should have lived to see this volume. Reigstad gives us ten Twain stories from his time at the Buffalo Express complete with illustrations from Buffalo artists Adam Zyglis, Tom Toles, and Twain himself. And there's not a blemish to be found." - Erik Brady, Buffalo News contributing columnist "Mark Twain's hectic years in Buffalo receive insufficient credit for their impact on his life and writings. Now the foremost expert on this period of Twain's biography, Thomas Reigstad, provides deserved focus on his clever Buffalo Express writings, and the gifted artists who have ingeniously illustrated those writings." - Alan Gribben, author of Mark Twain's Literary Resources "Reigstad is the preeminent authority on Mark Twain's literary career at the Buffalo Express. Reigstad's selection of Twain's feature stories in this collection are accompanied by introductions and illustrations that place them in historical context and underscore the humor and satire that are often lost on modern readers." - Barbara Schmidt, publisher of twainquotes.com "Reigstad's book offers invaluable insight into a pivotal period of Mark Twain's early career. His recovery of the writer's previously unknown collaboration with Express staff artist John Harrison Mills is a revelation--literary detective work at its best. The volume's inclusion of later illustrations by Tom Toles, Bill Watterson, and Adam Zyglis is simply the delectable icing on top." - Kerry Driscoll, author of Mark Twain among the Indians and Other Indigenous Peoples "Reigstad's The Illustrated Mark Twain and the Buffalo Express is a wonderful cornucopia of stories written by Twain in his tumultuous years as a new husband, father, homeowner, and editor of a daily newspaper. Presented in their context - with illustrations by gifted artists over the decades - these creations are a swag-bag of treasures for readers old and new." - Darryl Brock, author of If I Never Get Back
