"What is Man?" by Mark Twain. NY: De Vinne Press, 1906. First edition. Second isssue. Inscribed to Mrs. Doubleday on the inside front cover
Mark Twain penned the following inscription on the inside front cover: “Dear Mrs. Doubleday: This book has wandered into my hands, & as it is too delicate & pretty for a person like me, & just right for a person like you, I wish to beg you to take it. With the affectionate regards of a long-time friend – to wit S. L. Clemens. New York, Xmas 1906.”
The recipient was undoubtedly the naturalist Neltje Doubleday, the wife of his good friend the publisher Frank N. Doubleday. Merle Johnson, in his “A Bibliography of the Works of Mark Twain,” states that this book was “published anonymously August 20, 1906… for the author…Copies of the work were distributed privately to the author’s personal friends and public acknowledgement of authorship was withheld until after his death.”
"What is Man?" by Mark Twain. NY: De Vinne Press, 1906. First edition. Second isssue. Inscribed to Mrs. Doubleday on the inside front cover
Mark Twain penned the following inscription on the inside front cover: “Dear Mrs. Doubleday: This book has wandered into my hands, & as it is too delicate & pretty for a person like me, & just right for a person like you, I wish to beg you to take it. With the affectionate regards of a long-time friend – to wit S. L. Clemens. New York, Xmas 1906.”
The recipient was undoubtedly the naturalist Neltje Doubleday, the wife of his good friend the publisher Frank N. Doubleday. Merle Johnson, in his “A Bibliography of the Works of Mark Twain,” states that this book was “published anonymously August 20, 1906… for the author…Copies of the work were distributed privately to the author’s personal friends and public acknowledgement of authorship was withheld until after his death.”