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This collection of correspondence between Clemens and Rogers may be thought of as a continuation of Mark Twain's Letters to His Publishers, 1867-1894, edited by Hamlin Hill. It completes the story begun there of Samuel Clemens's business affairs, especially insofar as they concern dealings with publishers; and it documents Clemens's progress from financial disaster, with the Paige typesetter and Webster & Company, to renewed prosperity under the steady, skillful hand of H. H. Rogers. But Clemens's correspondence with Rogers reveals more than a business relationship. It illuminates a friendship which Clemens came to value above all others, and it suggests a profound change in his patterns of living. He who during the Hartford years had been a devoted family man, content with a discrete circle of intimates, now became again (as he had been during the Nevada and California years) a man among sporting men, enjoying prizefights and professional billiard matches in public, and--in private--long days of poker, gruff jest, and good Scotch whisky aboard Rogers's magnificent yacht. CONTENTS -- ABBREVIATIONS -- INTRODUCTION -- I. "FUSSING WITH BUSINESS" (December 1893-February 1895) -- II. "As LONG AS THE PROMISE MUST BE MADE" (March 1895-August 1896) -- III. "OUR UNSPEAKABLE DISASTER" (August 1896-July 1897) -- IV. "YOU AND I ARE A TEAM" (July 1897-May 1899) -- V. "THIS EVERLASTING EXILE" (June 1899-August 1900) -- VI. "THIS ODIOUS SWINDLE" (October 1900-June 1904) -- VII. "NOTHING AGREES WITH ME" (July 1904-March 1908) -- VIII. "I WISH HENRY ROGERS WOULD COME HERE" (June 1908-May 1909) -- AFTERWORD -- APPENDIXES -- A. Agreement of 23 May 1895 between Mrs. Olivia L. Clemens and Harper & Brothers -- B. Agreement of 31 December 1896 between Harper & Brothers, the American Publishing Company, and Mrs. Olivia L. Clemens -- C. Agreement of 31 December 1896 between Olivia L. Clemens and Samuel L. Clemens, the American Publishing Company, Samuel L. Clemens, and Charles Dudley Warner -- D. Supplement of 11 November 1898 to Agreement of 31 December 1896 between Harper & Brothers, the American Publishing Company, and Mrs. Olivia L. Clemens -- E. Agreement of 22 October 1903 between Harper & Brothers, and Samuel L. Clemens and Olivia L. Clemens -- F. Agreement of 23 October 1903 between the American Publishing Company, Harper & Brothers, and Samuel L. Clemens and Olivia L. Clemens -- G. A Tribute to Henry H. Rogers -- A CALENDAR OF LETTERS -- BIOGRAPHICAL DIRECTORY -- GENEALOGICAL CHARTS -- INDEX -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- Q -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W -- Y.
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