The Daily Bulletin

Thomas J. Reigstad, professor emeritus of English, has published The Illustrated Mark Twain and the Buffalo Express: 10 Stories and Over a Century of Sketches (Globe Pequot/North Country Books, 2024). Released February 20, the book features 10 stories by Mark Twain from the Buffalo Express of 1869 and 1870, accompanied by nearly 40 illustrations drawn by six artists.

The book includes a drawing by Twain himself; six original illustrations by his staff artist, John Harrison Mills; and 17 by Truman W. “True” Williams, Twain’s most prominent illustrator. Also included are 11 humorous illustrations by Tom Toles for a 1978 Buffalo Courier-Express series, reprinted for the first time, as well as two cartoons drawn by Bill Watterson, creator of the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes. The volume also contains two caricatures of Twain and two new original illustrations by Buffalo News cartoonist Adam Zyglis. The book was featured in a Buffalo News column by Erik Brady on February 13.

Dr. Reigstad was also a guest speaker on February 20 for the IMAGINE Greater Buffalo virtual lecture and discussion series, a program hosted by the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library, and created by the Center for the Study of Art, Architecture, History, and Nature. The segment was titled “Thomas J. Reigstad, Author of The Illustrated Mark Twain and the Buffalo Express and of Scribblin’ for a Livin’ — Mark Twain’s Pivotal Period in Buffalo.”