A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur Court 1889 edition illustrated Mark Twain 9781520492759 Books
Download As PDF : A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur Court 1889 edition illustrated Mark Twain 9781520492759 Books
1889 edition, illustrated A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court is an 1889 novel by American writer Mark Twain. The book was originally titled A Yankee in King Arthur's Court. Some early editions are titled A Yankee at the Court of King Arthur. In the book, a Yankee engineer from Connecticut is accidentally transported back in time to the court of King Arthur, where he fools the inhabitants of that time into thinking that he is a magician, and soon uses his knowledge of modern technology to become a "magician" in earnest, stunning the English of the Early Middle Ages with such feats as demolitions, fireworks, and the shoring up of a holy well. He attempts to modernize the past, but in the end he is unable to prevent the death of Arthur and an interdict against him by the Catholic Church of the time, which grows fearful of his power. Twain wrote the book as a burlesque of Romantic notions of chivalry after being inspired by a dream in which he was a knight himself, severely inconvenienced by the weight and cumbersome nature of his armor. _________________________ "The ungentle laws and customs touched upon in this tale are historical, and the episodes which are used to illustrate them are also historical. It is not pretended that these laws and customs existed in England in the sixth century; no, it is only pretended that inasmuch as they existed in the English and other civilizations of far later times, it is safe to consider that it is no libel upon the sixth century to suppose them to have been in practice in that day also. One is quite justified in inferring that whatever one of these laws or customs was lacking in that remote time, its place was competently filled by a worse one. The question as to whether there is such a thing as divine right of kings is not settled in this book. It was found too difficult. That the executive head of a nation should be a person of lofty character and extraordinary ability, was manifest and indisputable; that none but the Deity could select that head unerringly, was also manifest and indisputable; that the Deity ought to make that selection, then, was likewise manifest and indisputable; consequently, that He does make it, as claimed, was an unavoidable deduction. I mean, until the author of this book encountered the Pompadour, and Lady Castlemaine, and some other executive heads of that kind; these were found so difficult to work into the scheme, that it was judged better to take the other tack in this book (which must be issued this fall), and then go into training and settle the question in another book. It is, of course, a thing which ought to be settled, and I am not going to have anything particular to do next winter anyway." MARK TWAIN HARTFORD, July 21, 1889
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur Court 1889 edition illustrated Mark Twain 9781520492759 Books
This is not a complete copy of the book, and it is poorly formatted. It is missing the initial "A Note of Explanation", in which Twain tells his tale of meeting a stranger in Warwick Castle, who gives him a journal that recounts the body of the book. If you haven't read Connecticut Yankee before, you may have some difficulty picking up the thread of the narrative. And if you have read it, you will know something is missing. I don't recommend this copy of the book--there are free versions that are more complete and better formatted.Product details
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Tags : A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court: 1889 edition, illustrated [Mark Twain] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. 1889 edition, illustrated A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court is an 1889 novel by American writer Mark Twain. The book was originally titled A Yankee in King Arthur's Court. Some early editions are titled A Yankee at the Court of King Arthur. In the book,Mark Twain,A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court: 1889 edition, illustrated,Independently published,1520492758,Fiction General,Juvenile Fiction General
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A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur Court 1889 edition illustrated Mark Twain 9781520492759 Books Reviews
I have never seen a $9.00 paperback printed in such tiny print. It’s like the printer wanted to save on paper. My 12 year old granddaughter even has trouble reading this. Back it goes and what a shame. She was looking forward to reading it over Spring Break.
This is a classic. It was the first real book that I ever read, I've read it three times since. I bought this travesty because I wanted to read the book again. It's pretty much unreadable it's in what looks like 7 or 8 point type, and the page is so wide that it's hard to keep your eye on the line. It doesn't have any of the great drawings of the original (which is in the public domain and is available for free from Project Gutenberg). It's printed by Strelbytskyy Multimedia Publishing, which appears to be a Russian company. It's a big disappointment - it wouldn't have cost much more to print it in a larger type. I don't want to start reading this copy because a good book shouldn't be physically difficult to read, and I'm afraid to start reading it and find out that the publisher may have taken other shortcuts, like leaving things out.
Having tired of the likes of Cornwell, Patterson, Grisham, Baldacci, Cussler, Sandford, e.t al, I decided to give into the Classics. Steinbeck, Hemingway Dreiser, and all of the rest of the 25-30 greats that I sampled lived up to their advanced billing (with the exception of James Joyce who is totally incomprehensible). But as great as they were, none lived up to the pleasure that I experienced with this work by the genius of Mark Twain. Surely, we all whitewashed the fence with Tom Sawyer, and we floated the Mississippi with Huck Finn, but nothing prepared me to be transported 13 centuries back in time with the ability to take those 13 centuries of technological progress with me. I bought into it completely. Twain is a genius with the written word--so much so that I wish that I had been able to go with him. Try it. You will like it. Enjoy the ride.
The unquestionable master Sam Clemens, Mark Twain, wrote this marvelous piece to lampoon monarchy and organized religion. He also intended a large advertisement for science, technology, capitalism, and democracy. Well done. And the touches of Twain's acid-tongued humor make me laugh out loud.
After being hit in the head so hard that it "seemed to spring every joint in my skull and made it overlap its neighbor", Hank Morgan, a citizen of late-19th-century Connecticut, finds himself being chased up a tree by one of King Arthur's Knights. When he accepts that these people are not insane (Somehow the notion that HE might be in a delirium never occurs to him), he decides that, because of his vastly superior education, he'll be running this country within a few years. And he is. Then he decides to overthrow the ancient barbarities and institute true civilization. And he does. For a while.
Mr. Twain uses the notion of time travel the way the best fantasy and science fiction authors use their genres to compare and contrast today's world. And, being Mark Twain, he does it well.
It's odd how the abused are curiously sheltered, as if their maturing stopped when they began to be abused and they never matured past that. So the cynic can be curiously naive.
This book came to me when I was about 11. I loved it and still remember large sections of it from that glorious pubescent reading. This, my second reading, I have read it a second time now, and I am now five years older than Twain was when it was published. Now I find it delightful and I laugh an adolescent's laugh (Truly little boys never grow up. Our toys just get more expensive) at his merciless tweaking the nose of authority.
But now I find naive the notion that Hank could have become "The Boss" and second in command of England as easily as that. Nor do I think his takeover could have been nearly so complete.
What rings true is how that takeover could come crashing down so completely, so suddenly. Twain believed in reason and education. I think tradition, prejudice, and emotion trump them.
That having been said, I love this book! I recommend it without qualification and I hope to hear rebuttals to my comments.
Twain's time travel tale takes us back to the time of King Author and the Knights of the Round Table. Unlike most glamorous takes on the old tale, Twain paints a picture of absurdity, superstition, and human misery. The honor culture of brave knights and fair maidens is revealed to be a place of incredible ignorance, extreme poverty, and shameful inequality. The narrator of the book, Hank, finds himself unexplainably in sixth century England, where he quickly asserts himself as a magician by utilizing his knowledge of science and history. Fred is a remarkably competent man is able to begin a transformation of the realm into a more friendly and advanced place. Industry, politics, and universal suffrage are his aims, and he makes rapid progress in all three. The humor in the book centers around Hank outwitting the inhabitants of the past, especially Merlin.
As other reviewers have pointed out, the book is actually quite long. Parts feel repetitive and parts feel unnecessary, but it is still good writing and mostly enjoyable. I was expecting a light and easy read, and while this is not exactly that, it is still a great look into the witty mind of Mark Twain.
This edition was transcribed fine but there are some issues with spacing. Parts of the book have return carriages so that if your font is not sized very small, each line is broken up into a couple of smaller, truncated lines. This does not always make for a smooth read, but it is only in a few parts of the book, so no big deal.
This is not a complete copy of the book, and it is poorly formatted. It is missing the initial "A Note of Explanation", in which Twain tells his tale of meeting a stranger in Warwick Castle, who gives him a journal that recounts the body of the book. If you haven't read Connecticut Yankee before, you may have some difficulty picking up the thread of the narrative. And if you have read it, you will know something is missing. I don't recommend this copy of the book--there are free versions that are more complete and better formatted.
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