7 May 1870 • Elmira, N.Y. (MS: CU-MARK, UCCL 00462)
Private.
Friend Bliss—
I have just been stricken with an idea, in the shape of a scheme to secure a wide-spread advertisement. Whenever our sales reach 100,000,—no matter when that may be—you have tho or the Directors call me to Hartford to an oyster supper in celebration of the event—the city Hartford editors to be present1explanatory note—& I will either come there & make a speech that will travel well in the papers, or I will send one to be read there that will travel. Of course, if you speak of this, If you can think of something simpler & just as effectual, let’s have it—for suppers are sometimes a nuisance, & besides, the object of this one might be too glaringly apparent. Set Ⓐemendation your invention to work.
I calcu
I sent you dispatch yesterday to acknowledge rec’pt of your check for $3,914.62, & also to express my eminent satisfaction at the way the book is selling.2explanatory note
Mr. Langdon has been dangerously ill for some days, & it is plain that he cannot travel a mile this year. So we shall not move out of reach of sudden call. That closes out all notion of crossing the ocean—though we expect to go th to Ⓐemendationthe Adirondacks with the Twichells.
letter docketed: Mark Twain | May 7/70 and in pencil: July 20/69 393 copies rec’d from bindery3explanatory note
At this time the directors of the American Publishing Company, all Hartford residents, were: E. G. Hastings, also the firm’s president, a dealer in shirts; Thomas Belknap, an independent publisher; Sidney Drake, the former president, a bookbinder; George S. Gilman, an attorney; George F. Hills, cashier at the State Bank; Henry J. Johnson, a provisions merchant; and James S. Tryon, cashier at the First National Bank. Elisha Bliss, presently the secretary of the firm and by July 1870 its president, was at all times its chief executive officer. His twenty-six-year-old son Francis (Frank) was the treasurer. The principal Hartford newspaper editors were: Joseph R. Hawley and Charles Dudley Warner, of the Courant; L. R. Riggs and H. H. Barbour, of the News; Isaac H. Bromley and Joseph L. Barbour, of the Post; and Warren H. and Willie O. Burr, of the Times (Geer: 1869, 50, 62, 69, 107, 129, 144, 150, 162, 198, 264, 423, 495; 1870, 46, 64, 72, 507; Elisha Bliss to SLC, 2 May 70, CU-MARK; “Hartford Residents,” Bliss Family, 1; L3 , 97 n. 5; Rowell, 624).
On 2 May Bliss had written to Clemens at Elmira, as instructed (CU-MARK):
Bliss enclosed a statement, dated 1 May, of third quarter (1 Feb–30 Apr) sales of The Innocents Abroad. Clemens’s royalty on 21,378 copies came to $3,925.90, from which Bliss deducted $11.25 for “7 books shipped to parties by order & express chgs.” Innocents had sold a total of 60,378 copies, with total royalties amounting to about $11,300 (22 Jan 70 to Bliss, n. 6click to open link; 28 Jan 70 to Bliss, n. 5click to open link). Once Clemens realized that sales would not “reach 100,000” for some time, he modified his “oyster supper” scheme (30 May 70, 18 July 70, 21? Sept 70, all to Bliss).
References
- University of California, Mark Twain Papers, The Bancroft Library, Berkeley
- 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
- 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
- Hill, Hamlin, ed. Mark Twain’s Letters to His Publishers, 1867–1894. Edited by Hamlin Hill. The Mark Twain Papers. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. 1967
- Geer, Elihu, comp. Geer’s Hartford City Directory, for 1869–70: Containing Every Kind of Desirable Information for Citizens and Strangers; Together with a Classified Business Directory, and a Newly Engraved Map of the City. Hartford: Elihu Geer. 1869
- 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
- Rowell, George P. Geo. P. Rowell & Co’s American Newspaper Directory. New York: George P. Rowell and Co. 1869
- APC (American Publishing Company). “Books received from the Binderies, Dec 1st 1866 to Dec 31. 1879,” the company’s stock ledger, NN-BGC[bib10288]. 1866–79
MS, Mark Twain Papers, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley (CU-MARK).
L4 , 126–28; MTLP , 34–35.
See Mendoza Collection in Description of Provenance.
More information on provenance may be found in Description of Provenanceclick to open link.