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Explanatory Notes        Apparatus Notes (Ⓐ)

Source: CU-MARK ([CU-MARK])

Cue: "Fix up the"

Source format: "MS"

Letter type: "[standard letter]"

Notes:

Last modified: 2011-07-25T15:33:13

Revision History: AB | ldm 2011-07-25

Published on MTPO: 2007

Print Publication: v2

MTPDocEd
To Mr. Esais
24 September 1867 • Jerusalem, Syria (MS: CU-MARK, UCCL 00149)
Mediterranean Hotel,
Jerusalem Sep. 21 24 ⒶemendationⒶemendation 1explanatory note

Mr. Esais—Fix up the little Bible I selected (I don’t want any other)—the one that has backs made of Balsam-wood from the Jordan, oak from Abraham’s tree at Hebron, olive-wood from the Mount of Olives, & whatever the other stuff was—ebony, I think. Put on it this inscription: “Mrs. Jane Clemens—from her son—Mount Calvary, Sept 24, 1867.” Put “Jerusalem” around on it loose, somewhere, in Hebrew, just for a flyer.2explanatory note Send it to our camp, near head of the valley of Hinnom—the third tents you come to if you leave the city by the Jaffa Gate—the first if you go out by the Damascus Gate.3explanatory note

Yrs
Sam L. Clemens

on back of letter as folded: Forwardd per politeness of Mr. Weintraub.

Mr. Esais Bookstore Near church of Holy Sepulchre4explanatory note

Textual Commentary
24 September 1867 • To Mr. Esais • Jerusalem, Syria • UCCL 00149
Source text(s):

MS, Mark Twain Papers, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley (CU-MARK).

Previous Publication:

L2 , 94–95.

Provenance:

see Mark Twain Papers, pp. 514–15. Mr. Esais presumably returned the letter with the Bible, both of which are in CU-MARK.

More information on provenance may be found in Description of Provenanceclick to open link.

Explanatory Notes
1 Clemens and his party arrived in Jerusalem at noon on 23 September after departing the village of Lubban at 2:30 that morning. Riding ahead of their tents and equipment, they took rooms at the Mediterranean Hotel, “a large and commodious house, well situated near the British Consulate, and not far from the Damascus gate,” according to a contemporary guidebook. Clemens noted to himself: “Loafed all the afternoon in the Mediterranean Hotel.” But judging from the entries in his notebook, Clemens spent all of the following day inspecting the landmarks of the city (Murray, 1:73; N&J1 , 432–35).
2 This small (diamond type, 16mo) King James Bible, now in the Mark Twain Papers, was printed at Oxford University Press for the British and Foreign Bible Society in 1863, and was later bound or rebound as Clemens describes. The inscription Clemens ordered appears verbatim in gothic lettering on the front and back panels, with “Jerusalem” in Hebrew characters between “Mount Calvary” and “Sept. 24, 1867” on the back panel. Clemens himself inscribed the front flyleaf in pencil: “Mrs. Jane Clemens | From her Son— | Jerusalem, Sep. 24, 1867.” (Orion Clemens later traced over the inscription in purple ink and added, “The above, in pencil, but traced in ink May 15, 1874 by O. C.”)
3 On the morning of 25 September, Clemens’s party set off for Jericho and Bethlehem, returning to Jerusalem and the Mediterranean Hotel on 27 September. After two more nights at the Mediterranean Hotel, they left Jerusalem on 29 September to rejoin the Quaker City at Jaffa the following day (N&J1 , 432–43; Clemens’s notebook entries for 22–28 September are misdated: see Denny, entries for 22–30 Sept).
4 Neither Mr. Weintraub, to whom Clemens entrusted delivery of his note, nor Mr. Esais, from whose bookstore he purchased the Bible, has been further identified.
Emendations and Textual Notes
Ⓐ  21 24 ●  24 1
Ⓐ Mediterranean . . . 24 ● a vertical brace spans the right margin of the place and date lines

References

  1. University of California, Mark Twain Papers, The Bancroft Library, Berkeley
  2. Machlis, Paul, ed. Union Catalog of Clemens Letters. Edited by Paul Machlis. Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: University of California Press. [In some cases, UCCL catalog numbers cited in this volume supersede those assigned in 1986 and reflect corrections or additions to the catalog since publication. An updated version of the catalog can be consulted via the Letters Search page at MTPO.] 1986
  3. SLC (Samuel Langhorne Clemens). Mark Twain’s Letters, Volume 2: 1867–1868. Edited by Harriet Elinor Smith, Richard Bucci, and Lin Salamo. The Mark Twain Papers. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. Also online at MTPO[bib32371]. 1990
  4. Murray, John. A Handbook for Travellers in Syria and Palestine. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1868
  5. N&J1. Mark Twain’s Notebooks & Journals, Volume I (1855–1873). Edited by Frederick Anderson, Michael B. Frank, and Kenneth M. Sanderson. The Mark Twain Papers. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. 1975
  6. Denny, William R. Journal of the Quaker City excursion kept by “Wm R Denny | Winchester | Frederick County | Virginia | U. States, of America.” First volume, 8 June–10 September, pages 1–141 plus newspaper clippings; second volume, 11 September–20 November, pages 142–276 plus newspaper clippings. MS in CU-MARK. 1867
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