| When The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was | | | | Concord Mass., Public Library committee has |
| first published in 1884, it was declared an instant | | | | decided to exclude Mark Twain's latest book from |
| literary classic by respected critics such as | | | | the library. One member of the committee says |
| Edmund Clarence Stedman and Brander | | | | that, while he does not wish to call it immoral, he |
| Matthews. However, Mark Twain's greatest book | | | | thinks it contains but little humor, and that of a |
| was not without its detractors. The Concord, | | | | very coarse type. He regards it as the veriest |
| Massachusetts public library banned Huckleberry | | | | trash. The librarian and the other members of the |
| Finn shortly after its publication because of its | | | | committee entertain similar views, characterizing it |
| "tawdry subject matter" and "the coarse, ignorant | | | | as rough, coarse and inelegant, dealing with a |
| language in which it was narrated." On March 17, | | | | series of experiences not elevating, the whole |
| 1885, the Boston Evening Transcript published a | | | | book being more suited to the slums that to |
| story on the library's decision, writing: "The | | | | intelligent, respectable people. |