- Paperback: 341 pages
- Publisher: University of California Press; Library Ed edition (1 July 1992)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0520051084
- ISBN-13: 978-0520051089
- Product Dimensions: 20.3 x 14 x 2.3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 4,972,929 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
The Prince and the Pauper [with Biographical Introduction]
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Product Description
Review
"One of the great scholarly enterprises of the century. . . . If you want to enjoy, and to understand fully, the genius of Mark Twain, the California editions are the only texts to have." "London Telegraph [Michael Shelden]
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
Product Description
'What am I writing? A historical tale of 300 years ago, simply for the love of it.' Mark Twain's 'tale' became his first historical novel, "The Prince and the Pauper", published in 1881. Intricately plotted, it was intended to have the feel of history even though it was only the stuff of legend. In sixteenth-century England, young Prince Edward (son of Henry VIII) and Tom Canty, a pauper boy who looks exactly like him, are suddenly forced to change places. The prince endures 'rags & hardships' while the pauper suffers the 'horrible miseries of princedom.' Mark Twain called his book a 'tale for young people of all ages,' and it has become a classic of American literature. The first edition in 1881 was fully illustrated by Frank Merrill, John Harley, and L. S. Ipsen. The boys in these illustrations, Mark Twain said, 'look and dress exactly as I used to see them cast in my mind...It is a vast pleasure to see them cast in the flesh, so to speak.' This Mark Twain Library edition exactly reproduces the text of the California scholarly edition, including all of the 192 illustrations that so pleased the author.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book is a sublime `drama' of errors. The prince and the pauper change clothes and are mistaken by the whole population for one another. The prince lives a life of a vagabond and the pauper a royal one. In other words, all men are equal; one has only to change the garments. And, `So evanescent and unstable are men's works in the world.'
This book gives a fair picture of England in the 16th century, worth a Defoe or a Swift: the immense chasm between the rich and the poor, a heavily biased and corrupt judicial system and extremely cruel punishment. `It was a crime to be hungry in England.'
People were hanged for trifling larcenies and slowly boiled for alleged poisoning. `Witches' were burnt at the stake: `My good old blameless mother strove to earn bread by nursing the sick; one of these died, the doctors knew not how, so my mother was burnt for a witch, whilst my babes looked on and wailed ... drink to the merciful English law that delivered her from the English hell!'
The rich chased their farmers away by foreclosures (changing farms in sheep ranges), making instantly beggars of them. They risked heavily to be sold as slaves.
This book is a bittersweet Breughelian comedy about human injustice, cruelty and ultimately generosity.
Not to be missed.
This book gives a fair picture of England in the 16th century, worth a Defoe or a Swift: the immense chasm between the rich and the poor, a heavily biased and corrupt judicial system and extremely cruel punishment. `It was a crime to be hungry in England.'
People were hanged for trifling larcenies and slowly boiled for alleged poisoning. `Witches' were burnt at the stake: `My good old blameless mother strove to earn bread by nursing the sick; one of these died, the doctors knew not how, so my mother was burnt for a witch, whilst my babes looked on and wailed ... drink to the merciful English law that delivered her from the English hell!'
The rich chased their farmers away by foreclosures (changing farms in sheep ranges), making instantly beggars of them. They risked heavily to be sold as slaves.
This book is a bittersweet Breughelian comedy about human injustice, cruelty and ultimately generosity.
Not to be missed.
1 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Tom Canty was still a small, poor boy until he met Edward Tudor, the Prince of Wales, who decided positions.So he became the Prince of Wales, while Edward Tudor became him. But fate then casts them out into each other's worlds for adventure beyond their wildest dreams!
0 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book is a very funny and adventurous story that Mark Twain, (who was probably a genius), wrote about identity mistakes.
Tom Carty and Edward Tudor live very different lives yet they seem so similar - for one thing they look like each other. One day, the two boys meet and the heir to the throne and the poor poverty stricken lad have a wonderful idea and they carry it out...
The young men get a chance to live a new life and find out about how the outside world/ the life in the palace is like.
I am quite sure that you or your children have watched the Disney film of this book, which is quite amusing. Did you know that this book was the inspiration for it? Yes/ no, well know you do!
Tom Carty and Edward Tudor live very different lives yet they seem so similar - for one thing they look like each other. One day, the two boys meet and the heir to the throne and the poor poverty stricken lad have a wonderful idea and they carry it out...
The young men get a chance to live a new life and find out about how the outside world/ the life in the palace is like.
I am quite sure that you or your children have watched the Disney film of this book, which is quite amusing. Did you know that this book was the inspiration for it? Yes/ no, well know you do!
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