Tom Sawyer :: We *All* Need an Editor

On July 5, 1875, Mark Twain wrote his friend William Dean Howells (influential 19th c. American editor, publisher, critic, and author) to say that he'd finished Tom Sawyer and to ask Howells for any suggestions he might have on the manuscript. Howells obliged, much to Twain's delight because he figured it saved him a great deal of time editing the first draft himself.

Later, Howells reviewed Tom Sawyer for The Atlantic Monthly, saying that the book captured universal "boy-nature" (TinL Daily, 05Jul05).

The illustration above, by True Williams, is from the first American edition of Tom Sawyer and depicts Tom's famous fence-painting trick. Each year, Twain's hometown of Hannibal, Missouri, celebrates the Fourth of July with Tom Sawyer Days, which include--among other things--a fence painting contest.