Mark Twain's notes are often chaotic or obscure, yet they provide glimpses of his imagination at work, of the germ of his finished work and of the ideas and insights which proved unmanageable and were discarded. Because their relationship to one another and to the finished work is so frequently a matter of interpretation, these notes have been presented with as little editorial mediation as the rendering of handwriting into type permits.

They have been grouped on the basis of physical characteristics, comparisons with the manuscript, the matter treated within each set, internal cohesion, and topical references. When Mark Twain numbered his pages, his numbers have been printed. In addition, a number has been given to each manuscript leaf within a sequence.

No emendations have been made in Mark Twain's holograph notes. His ampersand has been retained. Single underlinings are presented as italics; double underlinings are rendered in small capital letters. Cancellations are included and marked by angle brackets, thus, 〈〉; substitutions by vertical arrows, thus, ↑↓, though context usually makes substitutions clear without the arrows; added words or phrases, by carets, thus, ⁁ ⁁; additions at some later date in pencil or ink different from the original by boldface, thus, Eddymania; and editorial explanation by square brackets, thus, []. Mark Twain's alternate readings are separated by virgules, thus, long/irresistible.