| [Harper's Weekly and Mark Twain were a good match for
each other. The magazine was one of the first in the U.S. to
give pictures as much emphasis as words, and MT was one of
America's most photogenic notables. In the first and last
pictures below MT made the magazine's cover -- in 1900
when he was the guest of honor at a fashionable New York
banquet, and in a 1910 obituary tribute. (Harper's
published another issue devoted to MT on the occasion of
his 75th BIRTHDAY PARTY, hosted by
Harper's.) In all of this publicity there was some
commerical calculation: Harper & Brothers had become MT's
publisher in 1895, after his bankruptcy, and keeping him
famous for being famous was good business. In the backpages
of many issues of Harper's you can find ADS FOR HIS
BOOKS as published by Harper's. At the same
time, it seems clear that the magazine's readers enjoyed
watching MT as a celebrity: wearing the white suit (first
UNVEILED IN
1905) or receiving honors like the doctorate
from Oxford in 1907.] |
