"Old pieces of humor are like antique toys: Some of them still work and some don’t, but they all have a certain fascination. Especially if we know that they worked for Mark Twain. And when you find one that does still work after, say, a century and a half, if you are like me you say things like ‘Look at that workmanship’ to cover your wonderment at sharing inner-child glee with someone who was in the grave when your grandmother was born. To my surprise, I feel that way about a good many pieces in this book." –from the Introduction by Roy Blount, Jr.
"Mark Twain is the Lincoln of our literature."–William Dean Howells