Fun with Maps ISSUE 2025-32

By Steve Kovacs (Introduction by Chuck Gibson)

LOVELAND, OH (February 18, 2025) – In today’s edition of Fun with Maps, it’s about just plain English.

Vernacular

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn interestingly was first published in England and Canada.  The US publication debut was February 18, 1885.

Huck and Tom Sawyer.  American frontier living on the banks of a mighty river in Missouri.

While fictional, the characters and places are rooted in the experiences of the author, Mark Twain.

Raised in Hannibal, Missouri, Samuel Clemens was a typesetter and riverboat pilot on the Mississippi.  The latter experience gave him the pen name of Mark Twain.

An original American writer and humorist.  The first major novel written in vernacular, or plain English, is about Huck.

He had many one liners, including the one about Cincinnati that most of you are aware of (if not, ask Chuck). Hint: You might just get an answer in 20 years. The one quote I like a lot is: “God created war so that Americans would learn geography.”

This map of Missouri by Colton was published in 1871.

Steve Kovacs and his wife Theresa reside in Loveland, Ohio where they raised their two children. He is a passionate collector of antique maps.

Visit his antique map boutique world-on-paper online. Watch for his daily feature Steve Kovacs: Fun with Maps here on Loveland Beacon.