The Textual Apparatus consists of the following sections:
Description of Texts describes Mark Twain’s manuscript and identifies which lifetime editions bear his authority, specifying the copies collated or examined.
Textual Notes discuss problematic readings in the edited text and describe authorial revision not fully explained in Alterations in the Manuscript.
Emendations and Historical Collation records every departure from the copy-text, giving the source of the adopted reading. Because the manuscript is copy-text, the record of emendations is principally of Mark Twain’s revisions on now-missing typescripts or proofs. Emendations entries are signaled by a square bullet in the left margin. The list likewise records in sequence variant substantive and accidental readings among the authorized texts used as copy-text or as sources of emendation. The spelling of any compound word hyphenated ambiguously at the end of a line in the copy-text is reported here.
Alterations in the Manuscript records every authorial revision made on the manuscript. [begin page 796]