Bibliographers, biographers, and even bibliophiles have essentially overlooked the Uniform Edition of Mark Twain's works that Harper Brothers began to publish in 1896 but soon stopped after six volumes because of difficulties it met over copyrights. However, that aborted edition had important resonances for Samuel Clemens' private anxieties and satisfactions and for Mark Twain's standing as a "serious," enduring author of literature rather than a superficial humorist. More particularly intriguing is the emphasis (which he encouraged consistently) on "uniform" as essential to the format. That term should remind us that Twain's editions, like other ones, were tailored for the subscription trade (which he had supposedly risen above). Furthermore, they catered to the current trend of designing books into visual artifacts to be displayed as markers of the owner's cultural earnestness, and they also served as domestic decor. Though our taste has shifted away from sets of a standard author, they reveal a pattern of the functions that books once served. **********
