THROUGH THE YEARS a great deal of Mark Twain scholar-
ship has accumulated. From 1940 through 1950 more items
of research were published about Samuel Clemens than any
other American author, his work is beginning to receive
more serious attention abroad, and at the same time his
general popularity remains secure with the reading public.
But as with most major authors we find a diversity of opin-
ion about his life and writings. My purpose has been not
only to summarize Twain scholarship but to evaluate the
various contributions; another objective has been to indi-
cate what still needs to be done. For instance, there is no
definitive edition of Twain's complete works; many fugi-
tive pieces are undiscovered; full collections of his letters
and speeches are yet to be made; and periods of his life, such
as the years on the Mississippi and those spent abroad,
await fuller investigation.

Even now important scholarship is in progress. Dr.
Henry Nash Smith, literary executor of the Mark Twain
Estate, is engaged upon a definitive biography; and recently
a large collection of family letters, scrapbooks, and miscel-
lany has been added to the Twain collection at the Uni-
versity of California, from which Dr. Smith will add to
our knowledge of Mark Twain.

My research was supported in part by funds made avail-
able jointly by the Carnegie Foundation and Vanderbilt
University, and I wish to thank Dr. Walter Clyde Curry
for his kindness in securing this assistance for me. I am
deeply grateful to the late Dixon Wecter for his many
acts of friendship and his generosity in granting me ac-

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