The Autobiography of Mark Twain · Chapter
Endnotes explained
The endnotes provide editorial annotations and clarifications by A.
What happens
The endnotes provide editorial annotations and clarifications by A. B. P. and S. L. C., referencing autobiographical works, the Tennessee Land, the Grant publishing venture, the failed typesetting machine, and various personal anecdotes.
Themes in this chapter
Memory and Autobiography
Endnotes reference autobiographical nature of Twain's earlier works and his dictation process.
Business and Finance
Details of the Grant publishing venture and the costly Paige typesetter.
Characters to notice
- Mark Twain
Author and subject of the endnotes; provides corrections and remarks.
- Ulysses S. Grant
His Memoirs were published by Mark Twain; his death noted.
- Charles Dudley Warner
Co-author of The Gilded Age, which features the Tennessee Land.
- Karl Gerhardt
Young sculptor sent to Paris by Mr. and Mrs. Clemens.
- James W. Paige
Inventor of the failed typesetting machine that cost Mark Twain heavily.
- Richard Watson Gilder
Mentioned in relation to a statement about Grant's book royalties.
Key passages
“The machine in the end proved a complete failure, being too complicated, too difficult to keep in order. It cost Mark Twain a total of about $190,000. — A. B. P.”
The typesetting machine was ultimately a failure due to its complexity and cost Twain around $190,000.
Financial ruin from the Paige typesetter.
“The Grant dictations ended here. General Grant died July 25, 1885. More than 300,000 sets, of two vols. each, of his Memoirs were sold.”
Twain's dictations about Grant concluded with Grant's death; over 300,000 sets of the Memoirs were sold.
Success of Grant's Memoirs despite his death.