"Wheresoever she was, there was Eden," inscribed by Twain inside a presentation copy of Eve s Diary. March 27th, 1908. Mark Twain Writes Out The Final Line of His Book Eve's Diary, written as an ode to his own beloved wife, Olivia, who had recently died. 

Exceedingly rare inscribed first edition, first book printing of Twain' s Eve's Diary, written as a posthumous love letter to the memory of his wife, Livy, with 55 delightfully daring black and white illustrations on each facing page by Lester Ralph. Depicting Adam and Eve in their natural settings, Ralph's illustrations of an unclothed woman were considered pornographic when the book was first released in the United States, leading to controversy and in one case banishment from a Massachusetts library. 

Eve's Diary is written in the style of a diary kept by the first woman of the Bible, Eve, and is claimed to be translated from the original MS. The plot of this story is the first-person account of Eve from her creation up to her burial by her mate Adam, including meeting and getting to know Adam, and exploring the world around her Eden. The story then jumps 40 years into the future after the Fall and expulsion from Eden. 

Eve's Diary was completed just one year after Twain s wife Olivia's passing, so it's best understood as Twain's homage to his deceased wife. As Twain's official biographer Paine puts it: "In spite of its amusing aspects, [Eve s Diary] is full of tenderness, and in the most reverential sense conveys his love and his adoration for the one he had laid away. Adam's single comment at the end, 'Wheresoever she was, there was Eden,' was Twain's own comment, and perhaps the most beautiful line [Twain] ever wrote (Albert Bigelow Paine, A Short Life of Mark Twain, Garden City Publishing, Garden City, New York 1920, 278). 

On the front pastedown, Twain inscribes; "Adam, lamenting, said, 'Wheresoever she was, there was Eden'. Truly yours, Mark Twain." A most desirable association copy, Eve's Diary is here inscribed to the wife of Clemens' close advisor and one of the trustees of his estate, Zoeth Freeman, who would soon become vice president of the Mark Twain Company. The most beautifully haunting inscription of any author we've ever encountered. Book #Bv2406. $7800. We specialize in Rare Ayn Rand, and other legends and landmarks.