MARK TWAIN'S LETTERS TO MARY

This is the first publication of the affectionate notes, letters and scoldings that Mark Twain wrote to Mary Benjamin Rogers, who was married to Harry, the son of his dear friend ""H. H."", and who became his ""surrogate daughter"" during the years when, his wife and daughter dead and with Jean needing care and Clara's singing and health, he began to know loneliness. From 1906 to two months before his death in April, 1910, he jokes, teases, commends, comments for Mary's benefit; he praises her, makes her a ""partner in crime"" and shares his daily life; he writes of books and people, of his own work, of his misbehaviors and mischief; he admits to his age, his annoyance with his health, his impatience at the curtailment of his activities. The editor has set the correspondence within the events of the years, identified the personalities and tried to give details of incidents that are mentioned; he has also emphasized the tremendous popularity and public warmth that filled Mark Twain's last ten years. Students and collectors will find a very personal note in these letters and many examples of his individual characteristics.