February 13 Saturday – The Hartford Courant, p. 8, ran “An Appreciation of Mark Twain,” observing from William Dean Howells’ May 30, 1896 review of JA (reprinted in MMT p.150-6):

Mr. Howells, in his department in “Harper’s Weekly,” has a hearty appreciation of Mark Twain. He lauds in particular one of the humorist’s books which mortally offended the English [ CY] and which the majority of Americans, perhaps, will not agree with Howells in regarding as Mr. Clemens’s best work…

Harper’s Weekly included an article, “Mark Twain” by William Dean Howells. Tenney: “A general survey of MT’s works occasioned by a new Author’s National Edition. Praises ‘Some Facts Concerning the Recent Carnival of Crime in Connecticut.’ ‘If I were to choose anything of the author’s that would upon the whole most nearly represent the peculiar quality of his gift, I should choose this.’ Howells likes HF and P&P, but ‘none of his romances see so great to me’ as CY [MTJ Bibliographic Issue Number Four 42:1 (Spring 2004) p.7].