“A Family Sketch” was already planned to lead off this book, and its text was being prepared, when The Bancroft Library was able to acquire the manuscript at auction in 2010. I thank the Bancroft’s director Elaine C. Tennant, and deputy director Peter E. Hanff, for all their support of the Mark Twain Papers and Project. Within the Project, I wish to thank general editor Robert H. Hirst for his guidance and encouragement. Project editors Michael B. Frank, Victor Fischer, Harriet Elinor Smith, Amanda Gagel, and Christopher Ohge have earned and double-earned my gratitude: over the several years this book has been in preparation, they have given unstintingly of their labor, expertise, and good humor.
In making this book a reality I have, not for the first time, profited from the incomparable attentions of the University of California Press, from whose number I must single out sponsoring editor Mary C. Francis and project editor Kathleen MacDougall.
At the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, which is home to the manuscripts of three works published here, it is a pleasure to acknowledge the cooperation of Nicole Bouché, director of the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library. At Elmira College, warm thanks to Barbara Snedecor, of the Center for Mark Twain Studies; and at Hartford’s Mark Twain House and Museum, to Cindy Lovell, Patti Philippon, and Steve Courtney. Elsewhere, I give thanks to Rebecca Carroll, Shelley Fisher Fishkin, Kevin Mac Donnell, Sharon McCoy, Linda A. Morris, Elizabeth A. Novara, and Barbara Schmidt.
Any errors or infelicities in the translation of German passages are due to my misunderstanding of the wonderful assistance given me by Holger Kersten, who is also the identifier of the Clemenses’ “Baroness in Munich.”
My part in this book is dedicated to the memory of my mother, Margot Griffin Kenney (1938–2012).
B.G.