DLF Mark Twain


	But, you might ask, what has prompted the Mark Twain Papers and Project to enter the brave new world of the digital critical edition after 35 years of sustained print publication? Two things in particular stand out.

	The first is a matter of copyright. The Mark Twain Foundation has granted the University of California Regents exclusive rights to the digital publication of Mark Twain’s writings for a ten-year period (2002-2012). The Mark Twain Papers and Project and the UC Press are keen to capitalize on this agreement and, if possible, extend it. In addition, the Papers and Project have been the recipient of several major NEH grants specifically designated to fund the digital rather than print publication of critical editions of Twain. Most recently, a major software company has offered to fund the scanning of all of Mark Twain’s works in exchange for use of the content, and that contract is pending. The resultant facsimiles will be incorporated into the web site as well.

	As you might imagine, the technological demands of mounting a scholarly digital project like this often exceed the capacity of those who work in the world of the critical edition. Too frequently, critical editions exist as a labor of love rather than a rationalized process with institutional or external support. Our goal with the Mark Twain Project is to build a prototype - both technological and institutional - for the development of scalable and sustainable digital scholarly editions of literary works. Our best hope for achieving that goal resides in the collaborative model we’ve established among the CDL, the Mark Twain Papers and Project and the UC Press.