I am on the track of it...
How did you get this very rare book? I am curious!
(I have one book by J.M. Barrie also edited by Shorter - 25 copies all 
around the world.
This one: http://www.sirjmbarrie.com/bibliographie/shakespeare.htm)

Le 30/12/2010 19:55, Kevin Mac Donnell a écrit :
> Here's the story behind this brief piece (it's not at all what you might
> think)--
>
> Twain inscribed a copy of HF to J M Barrie. According to Clement Shorter,
> this copy also carried an owner's inscription by "Sarah Findlay of Illinois"
> and Twain makes reference to this person in his inscription. Clement
> Shorter, who was fond of printing tiny little limited editions, printed this
> piece and speculated that Sarah Findlay must have been some poor girl who
> sent her copy of HF to Twain for an autograph and never got it back. He
> wrote Barrie asking for a comment, and in this rare little private printing
> he printed his own preface with his speculations about Sarah Findlay, plus
> Barrie's comments about HF, a transription of Twain's inscription to Barrie,
> and the text of an anonymous letter Twain sent to England about piracies of
> Barries' works.
>
> But before you all scamper off a'googling, or clawing through ancestry.com
> for an answer to this mystery, I should also mention that Shorter reveals
> that he changed the name of the woman whose name was in this copy and also
> says she was not from Illinois. There is no Sarah Findlay.
>
> So... we need to locate Barrie's copy of HF, find out the woman's real name,
> and then with a little bit of googling and a few minutes in ancestry.com the
> "mystery" will be solved.
>
> Ready! set! go!
>
> Kevin
> @
> Mac Donnell Rare Books
> 9307 Glenlake Drive
> Austin TX 78730
> 512-345-4139
> Member: ABAA, ILAB
> *************************
> You may browse our books at
> www.macdonnellrarebooks.com
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Steve Hoffman"<[log in to unmask]>
> To:<[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Wednesday, December 29, 2010 6:35 PM
> Subject: Re: Mysterious text
>
>
>> Well, count me among those who is now curious as to the answer to the
>> question in the title of this work!
>>
>> I.e., who the heck /was /Sarah Findlay?  Fictional character? Real
>> person?  Is this an essay or a short story by Twain?  And how did J.M.
>> Barrie figure into it?
>>
>> A quick perusal of my Twain reference books discloses that Twain and
>> Barrie had some acquaintance -- I could find no index entries to the
>> mysterious Ms. Findlay.
>>
>> By the way, the manuscript does not appear to be available on Google
>> Books.
>>
>> Curious,
>> Steve Hoffman
>> Takoma Park MD
>>
>>
>>
>> Kevin Mac Donnell wrote:
>>> I have a copy and I also have a set of proof sheets that lacks only the
>>> preface leaf. I can photocopy the loosely folded proofs more easily than
>>> the
>>> bound copy, and copying them and mailing it to you would be easier (on me
>>> and the booklet itself) than scanning them.
>>>
>>> Please try google books first, but I'm happy to help if you strike out
>>> there. Perhaps somebody knows if this piece has ever been reprinted in
>>> book
>>> form or collected into a later collection of his works. If you fail to
>>> find
>>> a reprint or a copy online, just send me your mailing address offline.
>>>
>>> Kevin
>>> @
>>> Mac Donnell Rare Books
>>> 9307 Glenlake Drive
>>> Austin TX 78730
>>> 512-345-4139
>>> Member: ABAA, ILAB
>>> *************************
>>> You may browse our books at
>>> www.macdonnellrarebooks.com
>>>
>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>> From: "Céline-Albin Faivre"<[log in to unmask]>
>>> To:<[log in to unmask]>
>>> Sent: Wednesday, December 29, 2010 11:37 AM
>>> Subject: Mysterious text
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>> Good evening,
>>>> I wondered if someone among the specialists of this forum could tell me
>>>> where I can read this very rare text:
>>>> /Who Was Sarah Findlay? By Mark Twain With a Suggested Solution of the
>>>> Mystery by J. M. Barrie/. London: Privately Printed by Clement Shorter,
>>>> April 1917.
>>>> I know there are only 25 copies all around the world.
>>>> Many thanks in advance for your help.
>>>> Céline-Albin Faivre
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>