Mark Twain
(1835-1910)
"Writings of Mark Twain" Definitive Edition, 1992
Hardcover books in 38 volumes bound in 3/4 leather
Two works:

Twain, Mark. "Writings of Mark Twain." New York: Gabriel Wells, 1922
First volume signed both as Mark Twain and Samuel Clemens; further signed by publisher: Albert Bigelow Paine; with later bound-in note from Twain to Kate Douglas Wiggin on his personal letterhead; further inscribed with bound-in poetic response to Twain's note by Wiggin in her hand
From the edition of 1024
The complete Definitive Edition in 37 volumes rebound in 3/4 leather with gilt-stamped and tooled spines and gilt upper page edges

Johnson, Merle. "A Bibliography of the Work of Mark Twain." New York and London: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1910
Edition: 462/500
Signed: Merle Johnson
Limited First Edition, conformingly bound

38 pieces
Each volume: 9" H x 6.25" W
Literature: Nora Archibald Smith, "Kate Douglas Wiggin: As Her Sister Knew Her" (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co, 1925), 139.

Other Notes:
Twain signed 1024 single leaves in anticipation of this definitive edition, which was published posthumously. What makes this lot unique, however, are the letters bound into the first volume.

First, we have a signed note from Twain to friend and contemporary author "Kate D. Riggs" (Kate Douglas Wiggin), hand-written on Twain's letterhead with the address of his townhouse on Fifth Avenue in New York, where he lived out his final years. The note expresses his appreciation for a dinner party that he attended at Wiggin's home.

Secondly, we have a hand-written poem that Wiggin penned in response to the thank-you note, signed "K.D.R." It reads:

You write 'the feed was noble,'
Such tribute flatters me!
The 'company' you then extol
And there I quite agree;
And when you say that I'm 'a dear'
My head becomes so big
I'd almost quote you in the Times
If 'twere not 'infra dig.'
But all these foolish feelings fly,
As leaves in autumn fall,
For 'Heaven bless you' ends your note,
And that's the best of all.
The note itself I think I have
Preserved so it will keep;
I glazed it first with paraffine,
A couple of inches deep,
And then I put it in a box
Completely filled with rags,
And stuffed it round with cedar chips
And smelly camphor bags.
So, when posterity unearths
Your letter from the dark,
Where it has slept a hundred years,
They'll know you signed it 'Mark.'

Here Twain's original note has in fact been unearthed by posterity, however seemingly without the cedar chips, camphor bags, and not encased in paraffine.

It's worth mentioning that the dinner party correspondence pre-dates Twain's "doe luncheons," which played counterpart to his famed stag luncheons, and of which Wiggin was a frequent attendee. The doe luncheons were appropriately hosted by his daughter Clara Clemens and attended by various female friends and contemporaries of Twain. It seems Twain was particularly enthralled by Wiggin's witty banter and her letters in which she often employed clever wordplay, much like in this example.

Wiggin was a notable children's author, most acclaimed for "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm" published in 1903, which Twain called a "beautiful book" - "beautiful and moving and satisfying. How Mrs. Riggs pervades it - her brightest and best and loveliest self!" But perhaps more notably, she spearheaded the kindergarten movement in America, opening the first free kindergarten in San Francisco in 1878, which prioritized "street children and underserved." She devoted much of her life to children's education during a time when industrialization was tearing them away from school to work as cheap labor in factories. This correspondence showcases the youthful imagination imbued in her life's work that inspired a movement to prioritize early education in America.

References:
Mary Boewe. "Bewildered, Bothered, and Bewitched: Mark Twain's View of Three Women Writers." Mark Twain Journal 45, no. 1 (2007): 17-23.

Each overall good condition with shelf wear, dust accumulation, and toning to page edges commensurate with age. Each with bumping to spine ends and corners, a few volumes with attendant rice-sized chipped losses to the leather. Tanning to spines. First volume with offsetting from edition page. Fraying and wear to page markers, some detached. Condition reports are offered as a courtesy and are typically published in Moran's catalogue or can be made available upon request. The absence of a condition report does not imply that an item is free from defects or restoration, nor does a reference to particular defects imply the absence of others. Buyers are responsible for determining to their own satisfaction the true nature and condition of any lot prior to bidding. Though buyers are not legally required to inspect lots prior to purchase, failure to do so may constitute a waiver of complaint that an item was not delivered in a condition equal to the existent condition at the auction.