Twain Exonerated  Published: March 05, 1988  To the Editor:  The
Auctions column (Weekend, Feb. 5) contains a significant error
on Christie's auction of the Doheny Mark Twain material. The
presentation copy of the first edition of ''Huckleberry Finn''
(from Clemens to his wife, Livy) does not contain, as was
reported, the illustration on page 283 that was altered
obscenely by someone during the printing. The illustration was
in its original prealtered state (state 1 in Blanck's
''Bibliography of American Literature''), as Christie's
catalogue makes clear.  This is not nit-picking. It is almost
unthinkable that Clemens would have given his wife a first
edition of Huckleberry Finn containing the obscene illustration.
Also, from a collector's viewpoint, it's a relief to reconfirm
that there are still no known copies of the book containing the
altered illustration. CLAUDE S. BRINEGAR Pacific Palisades,
Calif., Feb. 9, 1988