Mark Twain

A photo postcard showing Twain smoking a pipe in a windowsill at Stormfield, flanked by his business advisor, Ralph Ashcroft, and his secretary, Isabel Lyon.

• Mark Twain [S.L. Clemens] (American).
• [Stormfield, Redding, Connecticut], N.p: "Xmas Day", 1908.
• Inscription reads: "Dear Mr. Coe: I am smoking your health in your noble cigars. I wish you & Mrs. Mai were here to assist. In the picture it is family worship. I am trying to do the Beatitudes, & Ashcroft is prompting. With love to you both – SLC".
• The photo was taken by William Ireland Starr just a few weeks earlier, and Twain had several postcards printed up using the image.

William Robertson Coe (1869-1955) was a famous rare book collector (Coe Collection at Yale), insurance and railroad executive and American Studies pioneer. His wife, Mai Rogers Coe (1875-1924), knew Twain through his friendship with her parents, the wealthy industrialist Henry Huttleston Rogers and Abbie Palmer Rogers. Rogers was Twain's greatest friend towards the end of his life, and was at times believed to be the richest man in America, outdoing his partner John D. Rockefeller.