The (San Francisco) Argonaut
March 14, 1885
Vol. XVI, No. 11
p. 10

Mark Twain's new book, "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," the sequel to "Tom Sawyer," has at length been published. It was finished fully a year ago, but owing to difficulties with publishers, etc., it has just appeared. Like its predecessor, "Tom Sawyer," it is written to demonstrate the powers of the American boy in the way of adroit and successful lying. But where Tom Sawyer was fanciful and ornate, Huck Finn is purely practical. The story has almost no plot; in fact, the author states in the preface that "all persons seeking to find a plot in this book will be shot." But the incidents are of that wildly improbable character, and in their achievement require that supreme assurance and fertility of expedient in danger, that constitute Mark Twain's chief charm as a humorist. The entire book is amusing, only one or two passages approaching pathos or even earnestness. A remarkable feature is the variety of dialects spoken by the characters; but the author assures us that they are not inaccuracies on his part, but representative of six different sections of the Southwest. It is published by Charles L. Webster, New York; for sale in this city, by subscription, by the Occidental Publishing Company, 120 Sutter Street.