English+Publication+First


 * In class, we noticed that Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was first published in England and then, a few months later, in America. I provided you with this clue: it was the norm for American books to be published in England first. Why?**

Initially, books were printed in Britain before the United States because of a lack of machinery. Few printing presses were available in colonial America; those that were here were occupied printing government documents and the occasional songbook. Essentially, the only things printed in 1700s colonial America itself were things that were less expensive to print here than to print abroad and import. Further, by printing books in the homeland first, publishers were able to prevent the losses incurred by unsuccessful texts. (1)

Price concerns continued even as printing technology became more available in the United States. Paperback books were popular and often sold for 15 cents or less. In order to keep their costs down, publishers resorted to pirating texts that were successful when printed in Britain. (2) Due to the lack of a sound international copyright agreement between England and the Continent in the 19th century, American publishers favored reprinting these unauthorized versions of popular British texts and largely ignored American authors, to whom they would be forced to pay royalties (3). Mark Twain was notorious for his aversion to publishers and the great lengths he would go in order to prevent copyright infringement of his works, including revising a text when it had reached the end of it's copyright protection in order to start the process over again, trying to establish Canadian residency to protect his works in Canada, and of course, publishing books in England first (3). This, combined with a printing mishap, lead to Adventures of Huckleberry Finn being published first overseas. This publishing issue involved obscene text being placed in one of the drawings contained within the book. (4)

In addition to the lack of materials the colonists faced when dealing with the issue of publishing, there was also the idea that Britain was considered an intellectually superior culture. Therefore, not only did most of the colonists’ reading material originate from Britain, but that which was written by the colonists themselves were sent to Britain first for publication, it being considered the “legitimate market for intellectuals.”

The few publishing companies in the early States that did exist had trouble surviving for a couple reasons. Either they did not have the money to support a culture with such a high rate of literacy, as America did, or else the inadequate distribution system and regional separation and differences in the country made it difficult for the printing market to know how to function, let alone flourish. (5)

In addition to the aforementioned monetary concerns and sociological reasoning behind publishing American literature in Britain first, the reason "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" was first published in England is uniquely interesting. It was scheduled to be released in America the same year as in England - 1884. However, it was recalled because of an offensive, indecent image Twain’s illustrator managed to sneak into the novel’s engravings. The image in question was that of Uncle Silas in a state of “indecent exposure.” (6) The image was removed from the book, and the novel was given a later publishing date.

It's indicated that the production of this 'obsecene' representation of Uncle Silas was directly influenced by Twain himself, as he comissioned the illustrator directly. While the image was replaced, it's noted that "the episode remains very true to Twain’s impish spirit." (6)

According to this article, Twain, Webster and William Dean Howells all read a copy of the text with the altered image in it. Yet, none of them noticed it. There is, apparently, one copy of this text still in existence. (7)

An alternative reason for the discrepancy is found in “The Publication of ‘Huckleberry Finn’: A Centennial Retrospect”, written by Henry Nash Smith in 1984. In this article, Smith explains that “Huckleberry Finn” was first sold through a subscription method in England with salespeople going door to door. This type of literature, “appealed to a clientele not accustomed to buying books” as the salespeople traveled to farms and small towns, but also city-dwellers. This was significant during this time as many people were still questioning the morality of reading fiction (8).

The book DID appear in America prior to 1885, according to Smith, but in //The Century Magazine//(10) as a “teaser” to increase publicity along with his book tour which occurring between November 1884 and January 1885, shortly before the book was officially released. Smith claims the delay for the entire story to be published as a whole was due to a, “Mischievous engraver [who] altered the plate for an illustration to confer an erect penis on Uncle Silas Phelps in the prospectus prepared for the agents” (8). Some claim that an angry agent from Estes and Lauriat was mad that they were not being allowed to sell the book so they altered the plate to for revenge (8). Arthur Lawerence Vogelback, however, claims that Samuel Clemens created the rumor of this naughty illustration in order to gain more publicity for his book, according to the 1939 article, “The Publication and Reception of Huckleberry Finn in America” (9). Vogelback also argues that the official publication date in America was actually in December of 1884, but books were not available for delivery until February 1885, which is why that date listed in the American text (9). When Mark Twain published //Adventures of Huckleberry Finn//, the book was met with an onslaught of controversy upon its publication in the United States. The Concord Library Committee even banned the book, which brought an increase of attention to the book (10).

According to an article published in the New York Times, "It would have been published in this country and in England simultaneously before mid-December, 1884, for the Christmas trade had it not been for a "horrible accident" involving a pornographic drawing…Late in November of that year a bloodcurdling discovery was made in the New York publishing house. Some playful engraver had altered one of the plates, thereby turning an innocent illustration on Page 283 into an indecent picture, and this appeared in 30,000 copies of the book in the plant; production had to be stopped while a new plate was prepared" (12). After this discovery, the publication was delayed in the U.S while the plates were fixed, and the already published books were repaired (12). "The offending pages were snipped from bound copies and a new one was pasted on the stubs. In unbound copies several pages, one containing the picture in its repaired state, was inserted" (12). This could account for the 2 month delay in publication in the United States.

It was normal for American authors to publish their books in England first during the time that Mark Twain published his novel //Adventures of Huckleberry Finn//. Because of rampant piracy and inadequate American copyright laws, it was in the author’s best interest to publish first in England, then America. That way, the copyright established in England would hold up in America. England also had a far better publishing industry at the time than America did. Piracy was a huge concern because the author would lose out entirely on a large sum of royalties and could do nothing about it. (11) Rumors surrounding the publication of Twain’s //Adventures of Huckleberry Finn// gave it a legend that still thrives today. One site asserts that the 1st edition of the novel would have been published simultaneously in England and America in December of 1884, if it had not been for a pornographic drawing that halted New York production. Thirty-thousand copies were tainted and had to be manually restored to an unsullied state. (7) One site features all of the 1st edition illustrations, supposedly the “obscene” illustration, early reviews of the novel--both good and bad--and more. (12)

1 - [] 2 - [] 3 - [] 4 - [|http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/1984/4/1984_4_81.shtml] 5 - "[|Nineteenth Century America: Publishing in a Developing Country]" 6 -  [] 7 - [] 8- "The Publication of 'Huckleberry Finn': A Centennial Retrospect" 9- "The Publication and Reception of 'Huckleberry Finn' in America" 10- [] 11- [] 12- [] 13-http://www.twainquotes.com/19600110.html 14-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adventures_of_Huckleberry_Finn 15-[]

=
Through the small research I did of American books being published in England (and it being the norm) I found that there was small commonalities. I tried answering the question (google) "american novels published in england" or "american literature published in england". There wasn't much success. However, I changed the research a bit looked around "book trade." I found the beginning of an interesting article (that I can't completely read because they want my money) that described American Literature, before the revolutionary war, to be a "well known feature of England and Scottish book trade." I think this why American literature was first published in England. Through a long period of time there was a great deal of interest towards American writers. Historically other countries watched the quickly forming colonies / nation become powerful, popular, and cause a great deal of change in the world. Plush, they beat the British. After the revolutionary war, and then the civil war, the demand of American literature must have increased a great amount. The book was, at that time, a clear perspective of what American culture / experience could be like. Readers, especially those in England, must have created a great demand. That demand could have caused pre-existing large publishing firms to jump on American authors and have the books hit Englishmen's selves before those in America.

-Chris Trudell-

Links are attached below:

http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=90680669

http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/1984/4/1984_4_81.shtml

Since we already thoroughly discussed some reasons why the book was published in England first, I thought I'd check if I could find out something we haven't talked touched on yet. So... I just googled Huck Finn & Penis. The author of the following link ([]) also supports the penis argument, but what I didn't know yet is that the later publishing of the book apparently led to a serious loss of sales because the book missed the Christmas season in the US. Apparently, news about the mistake also leaked through, harming the book's reputation. Additonally, the author of the article also quotes some negative reviews on the book, which led to Twain "gleefully" write: “That will sell 25,000 copies for us sure.”
 * **

If that quote from twain is true, I guess it would kind of fit that Twain just instigated this to promote his book!