The Letters of Mark Twain

Foreword

Nowhere is the human being more truly revealed than in his letters. Not in literary letters -- prepared with care, and the thought of possible publication -- but in those letters wrought out of the press of circumstances, and with no idea of print in mind. A collection of such documents, written by one whose life has become of interest to mankind at large, has a value quite aside from literature, in that it reflects in some degree at least the soul of the writer.

The letters of Mark Twain are peculiarly of the revealing sort. He was a man of few restraints and of no affectations. In his correspondence, as in his talk, he spoke what was in his mind, untrammeled by literary conventions.

Necessarily such a collection does not constitute a detailed life story, but is supplementary to it. An extended biography of Mark Twain has already been published. His letters are here gathered for those who wish to pursue the subject somewhat more exhaustively from the strictly personal side. Selections from this correspondence were used in the biography mentioned. Most of these are here reprinted in the belief that an owner of the "Letters" will wish the collection to be reasonably complete.

Contents

• Mark Twain -- A Biographical Summary

1. Early Letters, 1853.
   New York and Philadelphia
2. Letters 1856-61.
   Keokuk, And the River. End of Piloting
3. Letters 1861-62.
   On The Frontier. Mining Adventures. Journalistic Beginnings
4. Letters 1863-64.
   "Mark Twain." Comstock Journalism. Artemus Ward
5. Letters 1864-66.
   San Francisco and Hawaii
6. Letters 1866-67.
   The Lecturer. Success on the Coast. In New York. The Great Ocean Excursion
7. Letters 1867.
   The Traveler. The Voyage of the "Quaker City"
8. Letters 1867-68.
   Washington and San Francisco. The Proposed Book of Travel. A New Lecture
9. Letters 1868-70.
   Courtship, And "The Innocents Abroad"
10. Letters 1870-71.
    Mark Twain in Buffalo. Marriage. The Buffalo Express. "Memoranda." Lectures. A New Book
11. Letters 1871-72.
    Removal to Hartford. A Lecture Tour. "Roughing It." First Letter to Howells
12. Letters 1872-73.
    Mark Twain in England. London Honors. Acquaintance with Dr. John Brown. A Lecture Triumph. "The Gilded Age"
13. Letters 1874.
    Hartford and Elmira. A New Study. Beginning "Tom Sawyer." The Sellers Play.
14. Letters 1874.
    Mississippi Chapters. Visits to Boston. A Joke on Aldrich
15. Letters from Hartford, 1875.
    Much Correspondence with Howells
16. Letters 1876.
    Chiefly To W. D. Howells. Literature and Politics. Planning a Play with Bret Harte
17. Letters 1877.
    To Bermuda with Twichell. Proposition to Th. Nast. The Whittier Dinner
18. Letters from Europe, 1878-79.
    Tramping With Twichell. Writing a New Travel Book. Life in Munich
19. Letters 1879.
    Return to America. The Great Grant Reunion
20. Letters of 1880.
    Chiefly To Howells. "The Prince and the Pauper." Mark Twain Mugwump Society
21. Letters 1881.
    To Howells and Others. Assisting a Young Sculptor. Literary Plans
22. Letters 1882.
    Mainly To Howells. Wasted Fury. Old Scenes Revisited. The Mississippi Book
23. Letters 1883.
    To Howells and Others. A Guest of the Marquis of Lorne. The History Game. A Play by Howells and Mark Twain
24. Letters 1884.
    To Howells and Others. Cable's Great April Fool. "Huck Finn" In Press. Mark Twain for Cleveland. Clemens and Cable
25. The Great Year of 1885.
    Clemens and Cable. Publication of "Huck Finn." The Grant Memoirs. Mark Twain at Fifty
26. Letters 1886-87.
    Jane Clemens's Romance. Unmailed Letters, Etc.
27. Miscellaneous Letters of 1887.
    Literary Articles. Peaceful Days at the Farm. Favorite Reading. Apology to Mrs. Cleveland, Etc.
28. Letters 1888.
    A Yale Degree. Work On "The Yankee." On Interviewing, Etc.
29. Letters 1889.
    The Machine. Death of Mr. Crane. Conclusion of the Yankee
30. Letters 1890.
    Chiefly To Jos. T. Goodman. The Great Machine Enterprise
31. Letters 1891.
    To Howells, Mrs. Clemens and Others. Return to Literature. American Claimant. Leaving Hartford. Europe. Down The Rhine
32. Letters 1892.
    Chiefly To Mr. Hall and Mrs. Crane. In Berlin, Mentone, Bad-Nauheim, Florence
33. Letters 1893.
    To Mr. Hall, Mrs. Clemens, and Others. Florence. Business Troubles. "Pudd'nhead Wilson." "Joan of Arc." At The Players, New York
34. Letters 1894.
    A Winter in New York. Business Failure. End of the Machine
35. Letters 1895-96.
    To H. H. Rogers and Others. Finishing "Joan of Arc." The Trip Around the World. Death of Susy Clemens
36. Letters 1897.
    London, Switzerland, Vienna
37. Letters 1898.
    To Howells and Twichell. Life in Vienna. Payment of the Debts. Assassination of the Empress
38. Letters 1899.
    To Howells and Others. Vienna. London. A Summer in Sweden
39. Letters of 1900.
    Mainly To Twichell. The Boer War. Boxer Troubles. The Return to America
40. Letters of 1901.
    Chiefly To Twichell. Mark Twain as a Reformer. Summer at Saranac. Assassination of President McKinley
41. Letters of 1902.
    Riverdale. York Harbor. Illness of Mrs. Clemens
42. Letters of 1903.
    To Various Persons. Hard Days at Riverdale. Last Summer at Elmira. The Return to Italy
43. Letters of 1904.
    To Various Persons. Life in Villa Quarto. Death of Mrs. Clemens. The Return to America
44. Letters of 1905.
    To Twichell, Mr. Duneka and Others. Politics and Humanity. A Summer at Dublin. Mark Twain At 70
45. Letters 1906.
    To Various Persons. The Farewell Lecture. A Second Summer in Dublin. Billiards and Copyright
46. Letters 1907-08.
    A Degree from Oxford. The New Home at Redding
47. Letters 1909.
    To Howells and Others. Life at Stormfield. Copyright Extension. Death of Jean Clemens
48. Letters of 1910.
    Last Trip to Bermuda. Letters to Paine. The Last Letter