From The Twainian, Volume IV, No. 1 October, 1944 Editor and publisher George Hiram Brownell
TWAIN LETTERS TO WEBSTER
THE LATEST PUBLICATION of original Twain material consists of a series of articles in The Atlantic Monthly by Samuel Charles Webster, grand-nephew of Mark Twain, in which the author sets forth an extensive group of letters written by Twain to members of his family, and to the author's father, the Charles L. Webster of the ill-starred publishing firm of that name. The author's mother, still alive in New York at 91, preserved these letters and has aided her son in their preparation for publication as an effort to exonerate Charles L. Webster from blame for the failure of the Charles L. Webster Company.
As any true student of Mark Twain has long suspected, the truth lies somewhere between Twain's later comments on the ability of his nephew and the efforts of the author to place at least a fifty-fifty share of blame on Twain. A study of Twain's career clearly reveals the fact that he was a poor business man who was constantly engaged, during his active days, in finding fault with his publishers. Twain was at fault in judging himself to be possessed of the ability to conduct a large-scale publishing concern in addition to his work as an author. Also, it may be said that Charles L. Wobster made an error in judgment in assuming that he could succeed as a publisher in harness with Mark Twain.
In fairness to Webster it may be said that he did fairly well as a publisher lacking previous experience and with a man of Twain's temperament as his boss. The publishing concern might have pulled through, regardloss of the Paige typesetting machine disaster, if Twain had left Webster alone. But Webster needed his job. At no point in the Atlantic letters does it appear that he was other than Twain's yes man. A more competent man, possessed of more intestinal fortitude, would have set Twain back on his heels at an early period in their relationship. This action would probably have resulted in his instant discharge, but it almost certainly would likewise have resulted in Twain’s abandonment of his ambition to become his own publisher.
Reliable evidence exists that Twain, in employing Webster, did so after making several efforts to enlist the services of a man experienced in the publishing field. But Twain was well known to the publishing fraternity and any competent man, then employed or not, would have regarded a business alliance with him as being a highly insecure connection. Indeed, such a man, devoting himself exclusively to the publishing business, would fail to conform to Twain's idea of a manager. What Mark wanted was a superman, a paragon of skill as a publisher, an agent capable of performing a limitless range of business and personal errands and tasks, an employee who knew exactly when to use his own initiative and when to call on Twain for guidance.
Nothing in the letters either adds or detracts from the stature of Mark Twain as we know him. Their contents serve merely to provide a bit of new light on his highly eventful career. The honors--or blame--seem to rest impartially on the shoulders of both men. Twain should never have made the mistake of becoming his own publisher. Charley Webster should never have essayed the impossible role of combination publisher and handy-man for Mark Twain. Private advices from New York inform us that the letters are to be published in book form by Little-Brown in the near future.