This book is the first-ever reprinting of all 27 letters composed by Mary Mason Fairbanks during the cruise of the Quaker City to Europe and the Holy Land in 1867, the first organized leisure tour of its kind and one of the most famous travel excursions in American history. These letters are punctuated by several cameo appearances by Mark Twain, Fairbanks' fellow passenger and, afterwards, her lifelong friend and correspondent.