The $30,000 Bequest and Other Stories

The $30,000 Bequest and Other Stories (1906) is a collection of thirty comic short stories by the American humorist and writer Mark Twain. The stories contained span the course of his career, from "Advice to Young Girls" in 1865 to the titular tale in 1904. Although Twain had ample time to refine his short stories between their original publication date and this collection, there is little evidence to suggest he took an active interest in doing so. "A Burlesque Biography" contains only a few minor technical revisions which make it different from the 1871 version found in Mark Twain's "(Burlesque) Autobiography and First Romance". "Advice to Little Girls" shows slight revision from its earlier publication in The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.

By : Mark Twain (1835 - 1910)

01 - The $30,000 Bequest Chapter I 02 - The $30,000 Bequest Chapter II 03 - The $30,000 Bequest Chapter III 04 - The $30,000 Bequest Chapter IV 05 - The $30,000 Bequest Chapter V 06 - The $30,000 Bequest Chapter VI 07 - The $30,000 Bequest Chapter VII 08 - The $30,000 Bequest Chapter VIII 09 - A Dog's Tale Chapter I 10 - A Dog's Tale Chapter II 11 - A Dog's Tale Chapter III 12 - Was It Heaven? Or Hell? Chapter I and Chapter II 13 - Was It Heaven? Or Hell? Chapter III 14 - Was It Heaven? Or Hell? Chapter IV 15 - Was It Heaven? Or Hell? Chapter IV, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X 16 - A Cure for the Blues 17 - The Curious Book part 1 18 - The Curious Book part 2 19 - The Californian's Tale 20 - A Helpless Situation 21 - A Telephonic Conversation 22 - Edward Mills and George B 23 - The Five Boons of Life 24 - The First Writing-Machines 25 - Italian Without a Master 26 - Italian With Grammar 27 - A Burlesque Biography 28 - How To Tell A Story 29 - General Washington's Negro Body-Servant 30 - Wit Inspirations of the 31 - An Entertaining Article 32 - A Letter To The Secretary of the Treasury And Amended Obituaries 33 - A Monument to Adam and Amended Obituaries 34 - Introduction to The 35 - Advice to Little Girls and Post-Mortem Poetry (written in 1870) 36 - The Danger of Lying in Bed 37 - Portrait of King William III 38 - Does the Race of Man Love a Lord? 39 - Extracts From Adam's Diary 40 - Eve's Diary 41 - Extract From Adam's Diary

In September 1906, Harper and Brothers created another collection of previously published short stories and essays by Mark Twain. They compiled two separate versions of this collection: a trade print issued in red cloth binding with gold cornstalks and an ongoing series for subscription book buyers who had first purchased their sets from American Publishing Company in 1899. By 1906, the American Publishing Company sets contained material that had not yet been incorporated in any of Harper's previous uniform series of books with red cloth bindings. With the publication of The $30,000 Bequest and Other Stories, Harper had the opportunity to even the offerings. Twain did not want either collection to contain duplicate material and ultimately approved Frederick Leigh's plan for the new volume's contents.

In order to accommodate the purchasers of American Publishing Company's uniform editions (issued from 1899–1903), Harper and Brothers bound Volume 24 to match the previous bindings of the earlier editions. Each volume for previous American Publishing Company customers contained the following statement: "This edition is printed by Harper & Brothers, the exclusive publishers of Mark Twain's works, as an accommodation to purchasers of earlier volumes with a view to making their sets uniform". It was up to the former buyers of the American Publishing uniform editions to continue adding volumes to their sets. However, a number of buyers stopped collecting the books. Any set found now that contains more than twenty-two volumes from American Publishing Company is considered rare.