21 December 1874 • Hartford, Conn. (MS: Daley, UCCL 00413)
It is too far in the future—but I couldn’t go, anyway. I could not deliver a detached lecture without losing a thousand dollars by it. That is, when I am at work. I go to St Louis & New Orleans in February or March, & I do not know how long I shall be gone. It is a pleasure trip & no limitations. I am at work now, & I shall be at work when I get back;2explanatory note & under those circumstances if you offered me two thousand dollars to break in upon my work, go to Phila & talk & then lose ten days getting back into my working groove again, (which is always the case) I would be obliged to say there was no money in it, but simply an actual loss, instead, & I could not do it.
But you’ll have guns enough, & big enough ones, too, without my little artillery, & so in whis Ⓐemendation wishing you a big success & a dazzling exit, I am only prophecying—& that on a certainty, too.3explanatory note
Thomas B. Pugh managed the Star Course of lectures in Philadelphia. Clemens had lectured for him in December 1869 and again in November 1871. On the latter occasion Pugh paid $250, one of Clemens’s highest fees (see 23 Feb 74 to Redpath [2nd], n. 1click to open link; L3 , 415; L4 , 134–35 n. 2).
On The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.
The event Pugh was planning has not been identified. Although Clemens’s wording seems to suggest it was a retirement event, Pugh was in his fifteenth year of managing the Star Course when he died in 1884, at age 55 ( L4 , 239–40 n. 1).
References
- 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
- Sotheby. Fine Books and Manuscripts. Sale no. 6515 (10 and 11 December). New York: Sotheby’s. 1993
- SLC (Samuel Langhorne Clemens). Mark Twain’s Letters, Volume 6: 1874–1875. Edited by Michael B. Frank and Harriet Elinor Smith. The Mark Twain Papers. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. Also online at MTPO[bib32371]. 2002
- AAA/Anderson. Historical & Literary Autographs. The Collection of the Late Alfred C. Meyer. Sale no. 4361 (12 and 13 January). New York: American Art Association, Anderson Galleries. 1938
- Parke-Bernet. Autograph Letters and Manuscripts of Celebrated Persons with a Fine Group of Presidents. New York: Parke-Bernet Galleries. Sale no. 315 (18 and 19 November). 1941
- SLC (Samuel Langhorne Clemens). Mark Twain’s Letters, Volume 5: 1872–1873. Edited by Lin Salamo and Harriet Elinor Smith. The Mark Twain Papers. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. Also online at MTPO[bib32371]. 1997
- SLC (Samuel Langhorne Clemens). Mark Twain’s Letters, Volume 4: 1870–1871. Edited by Victor Fischer, Michael B. Frank, and Lin Salamo. The Mark Twain Papers. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. Also online at MTPO[bib32371]. 1995
MS, collection of Robert Daley, seen at Sotheby’s, New York City, while awaiting sale (Sotheby 1993).
L6 , 327–328; AAA/Anderson 1938, lot 57, excerpts; Parke-Bernet 1941, lot 104, excerpts; Sotheby 1993, lot 254, excerpts and paraphrase.
When offered for sale in 1938 the MS was part of the collection of Alfred C. Meyer. Daley sold it in December 1993 to an unknown purchaser.
More information on provenance may be found in Description of Provenanceclick to open link.