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Vintage matte-finish 9.25 x 12 Underwood and Underwood portrait of Clemens wearing his trademark white suit, seated in a cushioned armchair with a book on his lap, signed and inscribed in the upper and lower borders in fountain pen, “To Miss Dorothea Gilder, with the kindest regards of Mark Twain, Jan. 14/08.” The copyright notice printed in the lower left reads, “Copyright 1907 by Underwood & Underwood, New York.” Attractively matted and framed to an overall size of 17.25 x 20.25. In very good to fine condition, with some light bends and creases, and a short tear to the lower left edge. Accompanied by a full letter of authenticity from PSA. An exceptional oversized portrait boasting a bold signature and an exceptionally clean, bright image.
In Mark Twain’s Autobiography, published in 1906, he announced his intention to wear white suits year-round. He was more comfortable in white than in dark colors, but had always conformed to seasonal fashion. He wrote: ‘One of my sorrows, when the summer ends, is that I must put off my cheery and comfortable white clothes and enter for the winter into the depressing captivity of the shapeless and degrading black ones.’ Although Clemens’s prolific writing career was long behind him when he began wearing his white suits, it is this image of the author that remains ingrained in the public imagination—this photograph in particular, showing him with book in hand, is a wonderfully appropriate example.
