Bored with Buffalo – Bret Harte on Top – Elmira Stay – Joe Goodman Boost

New York & Washington – Hartford House Hunting – Nook Farm Rental

Eastern Lecture Tour – Thomas Bailey Aldrich –Elastic Garment Strap

“Sociable Jimmy”— Roughing It Published

1871 – Mark Twain’s (Burlesque) Autobiography and First Romance is a pamphlet (sometimes issued with cloth binding), published by Galaxy editor Isaac Sheldon early in the year. It was Sam’s third “book,” and the hope was to quickly capitalize on his Innocents Abroad popularity for the 1870 Christmas market, but publication problems delayed release. It consists of two stories “First Romance,” (before named “A Medieval Romance”) which originally appeared in the Buffalo Express in Jan. 1870, and “A Burlesque Autobiography,” published in violation of Twain’s contract with Elisha Bliss. The “Autobiography” was unpublished at the time it was joined with “The First Romance” as a small book. Sam’s A Burlesque Autobiography did not first appear in “Memoranda” in the Galaxy.

The illustrations form an interesting aspect of this book. They have no relationship to the text of the book. Rather, they use cartoons illustrating the children’s poem The House that Jack Built to lampoon the Erie Railroad Ring (the house) and its participants, Jay Gould (1836-1892), John T. Hoffman (1828-1888), and Jim Fisk (1834-1872).

The book was not one of Sam’s favorites. Two years after publication, he bought all of the printing plates of the book and destroyed them. The sketch survived as “A Burlesque Biography” in the $30,000 Bequest and Other Stories (1906).