Special Collections is located on the 12th floor of the Kent Main Library, and are available by advance appointment only. You can reach them at specialcollections@kent.edu or call (330)-672-2270.
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Some items available for view by appointment related to Mark Twain include:
Mark Twain's Autobiography and First Romance
Not an actual biography, this book includes two short, fictional, and humorous stories about characters reportedly from Twain's lineage. Reportedly not a favorite of Twain's, he burned and destroyed the printing plates of this book two years after it was published, making Kent State's edition somewhat rare.
Dedicated to his daughters Susie and Clara, this first edition includes excerpts of letters between Lord Cromwell and The Prince of Wales (later Edward VI) as well as Hugh Latimer provided by the British government. This book has gilt edges as well as 300+ illustrations.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
This edition in Special Collections is especially delicate, and extra care should be taken when examining it. It includes illustrations.
This memoir by Twain recounts his early life working on steamships and travels as a young man. It has 600+ pages and many illustrations depicting various kinds of boats, steamboats, and rafts.
Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc
Reportedly Twain's favorite of all his books, he published this as a supposedly true memoir under another false name and "translated" from French to English. This copy is still in its original binding.
The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg: and Other Stories and Essays
This is a collection of short stories by Twain, originally published in several magazines including Cosmopolitan, McClure, and Harpers Magazine.
Scholars argue whether this work of Twain is meant to be satire or an actual defense of the idea that Shakespeare did not write the works attributed to him, but Twain includes semi-autobiographical details in this work. This edition opens with a statue of Shakespeare on the left page, and a statute of Sir Francis Bacon on the left, implying some relationship between the two that he explores in this work.
These and many others are available via Special Collections.
First edition of My Father, Mark Twain by Clara Clemens, his daughter
A publisher's sample (a copy with specimen pages and illustrations used to sell copies of the original book, also known as a salesman sample) of A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
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