Managing Your Next Project

"The secret of getting started is breaking your complex, overwhelming tasks into small, manageable tasks, and then starting on that first one."
—Probably not Mark Twain*

Village bookplate by Hubert Wilm
Via Europeana Collections

*Via Brainy Quotes. See The Quote Investigator

Writing is Easy

“Writing is easy. All you have to do is cross out the wrong words.”
~ Mark Twain*

Pastoral bookplate  by J. Winfred Spenceley (Joseph Winfred),
Courtesy Pratt University Libraries,

*Via Rosi Hollinbeck

Never Give Up

"The only difference between a published author and an unpublished author, is the published one didn't give up."

-Mark Twain

Free bookplate from My Home Library
Art by Posy Simmonds

A Good Book Room

"In a good book room you feel in some mysterious way that you are absorbing the wisdom contained in all the books through your skin, without even opening them."
-Mark Twain

Bookplate of Alexander Winthrop Pope
Courtesy Pratt Institute Libraries

A Connecticut Yankee

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court,
by Mark Twain, illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman.
Books of Wonder, William Morrow & Co, 1988

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, by Mark Twain is simply a good read.  While the original illustrations for this novel are fabulous, I will be focusing on the version by Trina Schart Hyman.

For more on the original Daniel Beard illustrations, see the 11/15/11 article at Blue Black Ink.

What is there to love about the Hyman version?

Each chapter of the Books of Wonder version of A Connecticut Yankee is graced by an example of Trina's wonderful draftsmanship in graphic black and white.  Nothing takes away from the pure joy she puts in every line.  Eight full color plates are added throughout the text, including Morgan Le Fay, Hank, and Sandy, as pictured above.  Trina Schart Hyman has long been known for the ironic humor she sneaks into her illustrations, so it is no accident that her pairing with Mark Twain is a brilliant one.

Trina Schart Hyman depicts Sandy and the Yankee.

Hyman's Camelot

Hyman's Merlin

Reading Good Books

"The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them."


-Mark Twain

Bookplate by Celia Levetus