William Dean Howells and Mark Twain were intimate friends for more than forty years. Shortly after Mark Twain died in 1910, Howells recorded this classic reminiscence of the man who, he said, "pervaded" the era "almost more than any other man of letters, if not quite more...".This new annotated edition of the book includes the biographical sketch, Howells' twelve critical essays on Mark Twain, and additional information about the social and literary issues, the people, places, and events to which Howells alludes.