21 August 1869 • Buffalo, N.Y. (MS: Axelrod, UCCL 00337)
Dear Sir—Yes, I have a pleasant remembrance of our ride, & would like to repeat it. And I remember promising to lecture for you, too, in case I lectured any of any consequence next winter—at least I suppose I remember it—& I know believe I promised Crane to lecture for him under the same conditions, though I am not sure about that, for it would have been absurd to make two engagements so close together as your two towns.1explanatory note
But circumstances have altered things greatly. I was under contract to make a w Ⓐemendation New England tour next winter, but I have been obliged to write there & ask to be excused. I have bought into this paper, & business will compel me to stick to my post. If my promise was a positive one I hope you will be merciful to a fellow journalistic sinner & let me off for this time.
I see you had a notion to le have me lecture on my wedding day! (Jan. 10.,)—but this is strictly private & you must not mention it.
Henry Abbey (1842–1911) of Kingston, New York, a former journalist, was a flour and grain merchant and by 1869 had published the first three of his dozen volumes of poetry (Clearwater, 545–46). Clemens must have met him in late 1868, when he met Henry M. Crane, of nearby Rondout, which eventually was incorporated into Kingston (see SLC to Henry M. Crane, 21 Aug 1869click to open link).
References
- Collection of Todd M. Axelrod, Gallery of History
- 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
- Freeman. Rare American Historical Autographs . . . The Collection of the Late Frederick S. Peck, Belton Court, Barrington, Rhode Island. Part 2. Sale of 17 March. Philadelphia: Samuel T. Freeman and Co. 1947
- SLC (Samuel Langhorne Clemens). Mark Twain’s Letters, Volume 3: 1869. Edited by Victor Fischer, Michael B. Frank, and Dahlia Armon. The Mark Twain Papers. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. Also online at MTPO[bib32371]. 1992
- Clearwater, Alphonso T., ed. The History of Ulster County, New York. Kingston, N.Y.: W. J. Van Deusen. 1907
MS, collection of Todd M. Axelrod.
Freeman 1947, lot 337, brief quotations; L3 , 314–315.
Sold in 1947 by Samuel T. Freeman and Company of Philadelphia (Freeman 1947, lot 337), the MS was acquired before March 1975 by Noel J. Cortés. It was again sold in 1982 by Maurice F. Neville Rare Books, and acquired by Todd M. Axelrod.
More information on provenance may be found in Description of Provenanceclick to open link.