HARPER'S WEEKLY, New York, Dec. 15, 1900  

* Mark Twain - Samuel Langhorne Clemens

See the photos for the great two-color cover portrait of "Mark Twain" as drawn by William Nicholson. The inside cover shows a photo of:  "The Aldine Club Dinner to Mark Twain" and the double page centerfold is a great illustration captioned: "A Surprise Party to Mark Twain by his Characters" from his many books.
A very displayable issue with this great Twain content. The complete issue, nice condition.

Background: The publication of the December 15, 1900, issue of Harper’s Weekly serves as a definitive cultural marker of Mark Twain’s "triumphant return" to America after nearly a decade of self-imposed exile in Europe. At this moment in history, Twain was not merely a popular author but a moral icon and a national hero; having spent years on a grueling global lecture tour to personally repay every cent of debt from his 1894 bankruptcy, he had successfully restored his "honor" in the eyes of the public. The Aldine Club dinner and the lavish "Surprise Party" illustrations within this issue document the specific period when Twain transitioned from a humorist to the "Elder Statesman of American Letters." By 1900, he had begun to use his massive platform to pivot toward biting social and anti-imperialist commentary, making this specific issue a rare snapshot of Twain at the exact intersection of his peak commercial celebrity and his emergence as the nation’s most formidable social critic.