For years, many of Twain’s philosophical, religious, and historical fantasies concerning the nature and condition of humanity remained unpublished. Thirty-six of these writings make their first appearance here.

For deft plotting, riotous inventiveness, unforgettable characters, and language that brilliantly captures the lively rhythms of American speech, no American writer comes close to Mark Twain. This sparkling anthology covers the entire span of Twain’s inimitable yarn-spinning, from his early broad comedy to the biting satire of his later years. Every one of his sixty stories is here: ranging from the frontier humor of “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County,” to the bitter vision of humankind in “The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg,” to the delightful hilarity of “Is He Living or Is He Dead?” Surging with Twain’s ebullient wit and penetrating insight into the follies of human nature, this volume is a vibrant summation of the career of–in the words of H. L. Mencken–“the father of our national literature.”

Mark Twain deals with the darker side of life and such themes as fate, death, bankruptcy, family misfortune, failure, and man's infinitesimal role in the cosmic order

"Now if there is any one class of their authors whom the American people do know rather better than any other, it is the American humorists, from Washington Irving to Bill Nye... We have tried to arrange our Library so as to include passages representative of every period and section." -The Associate Editors in the modern Introduction to Mark Twain's Library of Humor (1888) Mark Twain's Library of Humor (1875) is a collection of short humorous stories compiled by Mark Twain, including his own essays and those of other popular contemporary writers, such as Washington Irving, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Ambrose Bierce, and many others. This jacketed hardcover replica of the 1888 edition of Mark Twain's Library of Humor, with the authentic illustrations by E. W. Kemble, is an entertaining and humorous book for book lovers and Mark Twain aficionados.

How the Animals of the Wood Sent Out a Scientific Expedition Once the creatures of the forest held a great convention and appointed a commission consisting of the most illustrious scientists among them to go forth, clear beyond the forest and out into the unknown and unexplored world, to verify the truth of the matters already taught in their schools and colleges and also to make discoveries. It was the most imposing enterprise of the kind the nation had ever embarked in. True, the government had once sent Dr. Bull Frog, with a picked crew, to hunt for a northwesterly passage through the swamp to the right−hand corner of the wood, and had since sent out many expeditions to hunt for Dr. Bull Frog; but they never could find him, and so government finally gave him up and ennobled his mother to show its gratitude for the services her son had rendered to science. And once government sent Sir Grass Hopper to hunt for the sources of the rill that emptied into the swamp; and afterward sent out many expeditions to hunt for Sir Grass, and at last they were successful−−they found his body, but if he had discovered the sources meanwhile, he did not let on. So government acted handsomely by deceased, and many envied his funeral. But these expeditions were trifles compared with the present one; for this one comprised among its servants the very greatest among the learned; and besides it was to go to the utterly unvisited regions believed to lie beyond the mighty forest−−as we have remarked before. How the members were banqueted, and glorified, and talked about! Everywhere that one of them showed himself, straightway there was a crowd to gape and stare at him. Finally they set off, and it was a sight to see the long procession of dry−land Tortoises heavily laden with savants, scientific instruments, Glow−Worms and Fire−Flies for signal service, provisions, Ants and Tumble−Bugs to fetch and carry and delve, Spiders to carry the surveying chain and do other engineering duty, and so forth and so on; and after the Tortoises came another long train of ironclads−−stately and spacious Mud Turtles for marine transportation service; and from every Tortoise and every Turtle flaunted a flaming gladiolus or other splendid banner; at the head of the column a great band of Bumble−Bees, Mosquitoes, Katy−Dids, and Crickets discoursed martial music; and the entire train was under the escort and protection of twelve picked regiments of the Army Worm.