Stolen White Elephant, The [Paperback]

Mark Twain (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 25, 2002

One of Twain's most hilarious, but overlooked, masterpieces for any child or adult who can read or listen. Left out of "A Tramp Abroad", because it was feared that some of the particulars had been exaggerated or not true - the suspicions eventually proved groundless. Written in a manner only the author has ever been able to do, it is at once both entertaining and a valuable slice of American literature. The elephant was stolen in Jersey City, making it probably the only Twain story situated in the metropolitan New York area.

Product Details

• Paperback: 292 pages
• Publisher: Fredonia Books (NL) (July 25, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1589639081
• ISBN-13: 978-1589639089
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,913,595 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mark Twain at his best, February 1, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Stolen White Elephant, The (Paperback)

"The Stolen White Elephant" is a broad farce mocking the self-proclaimed omniscience of many fictional detectives, told entirely in the form of a series of ridiculous telegraphs. Revolving around the theft of a literal white elephant, the gift of the King of Siam, this manifestly absurd story is nevertheless modeled after the real life efforts of a blundering New York Police Department to recover the corpse of one Alexander T. Stewart, stolen from his family vault in 1878.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not worth buying free, May 7, 2010

By 

R. Fusillo (Atlanta, GA United States) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Stolen White Elephant (Kindle Edition)

There seems to be problems with transcribing some parts of books such as this. Throughout, the major turning points of the stories, which are quotes from either letters or newspaper articles, are completely missing. I am guessing that the missing sections appear in italics or some variant form.
This not the only book in which I have seen this -- makes the entire thing useless. The whole development of the story involves newspaper ads -- all of which are missing.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Missing bits, but still appreciable, July 8, 2010

By 

D. Scott "BentSea" (Houston) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Stolen White Elephant (Kindle Edition)

This is not a well done copy of The Stolen White Elephant. As other reviewers have noted, bits are missing throughout the story. Mostly newspaper clippings are missing, but frequently the article bits that do make it in have their formatting a bit butchered. The story is still very good and worth reading in this format, just know that if you really love it here then it is worth rereading in a printing that has the whole thing.