Long-lost Twain manuscript authenticated
On this day Sothebys announced the discovery of a long-lost manuscript of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain.The manuscript was the first half of Twains original version heavily corrected in his own handwriting which had been missing for more than a century.The manuscript surfaced when a 62-year-old Los Angeles librarian finally got around to sorting through some old papers in six trunks sent to her when an aunt from upstate New York died.Twain it turned out had sent the second half of the manuscript to the librarians grandfather James Gluck who had solicited it for the Buffalo and Erie Library in Buffalo New York where Twain had once lived.At the time Twain was unable to find the entire manuscript and it was presumed lost for more than 100 years.
However it turned out that Twain did eventually find the manuscript and send it to Gluck.A custody war over the manuscript ensued with the sisters the library and the Mark Twain Papers Projects in Berkeley California squabbling over rights to the papers.Ultimately the three parties struck a deal The library would hold the rights to the physical papers but all three parties would share in the publication rights.Because the novel contained previously unpublished material and showed Twains edits interest in publishing the manuscript was high and in 1995 Random House won the rights to publish the book for an undisclosed price.
