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I've just started reading Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain, and have already noticed both obviously erroneous statements (like the claim that the Mississippi together with the Missouri is the longest river in the world) and unfamiliar historical contexts. Being non-American myself (and not having English as my first language), I am sure to miss many of the things that Twain assumed to be obvious to his readership. I could, of course, Google or ask ChatGPT every time I come across something I don't understand, but that would make the reading exceedingly slow. So I am looking for an edition of Life on the Mississippi with historical commentary (or a standalone book serving the same function).

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    There are close-votes for this question on the basis that it's asking for a recommendation (it's not) or that it's an open-ended query "not scoped clearly enough to accept objectively supported answers of reasonable length". I think the scope of this question is sufficiently limited to avoid an open-ended list-type answer and ensure it can be objectively supported. I'm voting to leave it open.
    – Chappo Hasn't Forgotten
    Commented Aug 6 at 0:02
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    I feel like it's a factual question, though, as to whether such an edition exists.
    – Sean Duggan
    Commented Aug 6 at 11:52
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    Although, a quick google for "life on the mississippi" annotated brings up at least 4 different results, almost all "independently published", with different covers, which suggests that there may be too many "correct" answers out there. Also, I'm not certain how many of them specifically comment on history.
    – Sean Duggan
    Commented Aug 6 at 12:05
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    @verbose This post doesn't ask for recommendations, it simply asks for a factual response, viz is there an edition of this specific work that includes an historical commentary? An answer of "Yes" would be too short to be acceptable, but an answer of "Yes. A preliminary search reveals 4 editions that might fit this request. The following is a brief description of each...." would be an excellent addition to our Lit.SE library. Do you think this site is being overwhelmed with such posts? It's not the same kind of question your comment links to.
    – Chappo Hasn't Forgotten
    Commented Aug 7 at 6:41
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    @verbose, it would suffice for me to get a list of one. It's not that I need to determine which one (if several such books exist) is "the best" in any sense.
    – Daigaku no Baku
    Commented Aug 9 at 1:35

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The edition I've been reading has some historical commentary. It is the Random House Modern Library Classics edition (2007). Introduction by Bill McKibben and notes by James Danly. For example, the first note relates to the claim about the river's length you mentioned... You can find this one used probably. I've been enjoying reading about the river piloting especially. Best, Jonathan

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