10 May 1870 • Elmira, N.Y. (Will M. Clemens 1900, 27, and four others, UCCL 00463)
I guess I am out of the field permanently Ⓐemendation. I am sending off these circulars Ⓐemendation to all Ⓐemendation lecture applicants Ⓐemendation now.1explanatory note If you want some more of them Ⓐemendation I can send them to you Ⓐemendation —for they are very convenient for you to mail to people & save penmanship. Ⓐemendation
Have got a lovely wife, a lovely house, Ⓐemendation bewitchingly furnished Ⓐemendation, a lovely carriage, Ⓐemendation & a Ⓐemendation coachman whose style & dignity are simply awe-inspiring—Ⓐemendationnothing less; Ⓐemendation 2explanatory note & Ⓐemendation I am making more money than necessary, Ⓐemendation by considerable, Ⓐemendation & Ⓐemendation therefore Ⓐemendation why crucify myself nightly Ⓐemendation on the platform Ⓐemendation. The subscriber will have to be excused from the present season at least. Ⓐemendation
Remember me to Nasby, Billings Ⓐemendation & Ⓐemendation Fall. Ⓐemendation Luck to you! Ⓐemendation I am going to print your menagerie, Parton and all, and make comments.3explanatory note
In next Galaxy I give Nasby’s friend and mine from Philadelphia (John Quill, a literary thief) a “hyste.” Ⓐemendation I don’t consider that the Rev. Talmage has the weather gage of me yet. Ⓐemendation 4explanatory note
Doubtless copies of Clemens’s printed form letter for declining lecture invitations: see 8 Feb 70 to Fullerclick to open link.
Patrick McAleer.
Petroleum V. Nasby (David Ross Locke), Josh Billings (Henry Wheeler Shaw), and James Parton (1822–91), the well-known biographer and contributor to the Atlantic Monthly, were among the lecturers managed by Redpath and Fall ( Lyceum 1870, 2–3). Clemens had compared experiences with Locke and Shaw in November 1869 and Locke called on the Clemenses in February 1870 ( L3 , 387, 397 n. 3, 405, 406, 409, 411; 20 Feb 70 to Langdonclick to open link). Clemens sent Shaw his wedding cards, in reply to which Shaw returned congratulations on 14 February, reporting that he had “agreed to let Redpath mould me for next season, if I am able to shout, and have gave him entire control of my “Milk” (CU-MARK). Clemens may also have written to Shaw shortly after the present letter, on or about 16 May, but all that survives of his draft is that date and a salutation on a page later used by Olivia for a household shopping list (CU-MARK). Clemens did not publish anything about Redpath’s “menagerie,” at least not in the Buffalo Express. The subject continued to tempt him, however, and in 1898 he wrote about Nasby and others for his autobiography (SLC 1898 [MT01388], 1898 [MT01385]).
See 26 Apr 70 to Fuller, n. 4, and 30? Apr 70 to Converse, n. 1.
References
- Clemens, Will M. “Mark Twain on the Lecture Platform.” Ainslee’s Magazine 6 (August): 25–32. 1900
- 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
- Paine, Albert Bigelow. Mark Twain: A Biography. By Albert Bigelow Paine. 3 vols. New York: Harper and Brothers. [Volume numbers in citations are to this edition; page numbers are the same in all editions.] 1912
- Paine, Albert Bigelow, ed. Mark Twain’s Letters. Edited by Albert Bigelow Paine. 2 vols. New York: Harper and Brothers. 1917
- American Art Association. Fine Books and Manuscripts of the Greatest Rarity and Interest. Including the Further Property of a Prominent Pennsylvania Collector. Sale of 1 and 2 December. New York: American Art Association. 1924
- Parke-Bernet. Autograph Letters, Manuscripts and Documents of Three Centuries . . . Comprising Selections from the Collection of the Late Oliver R. Barrett, Kenilworth, Ill. Sale no. 1190 (30 and 31 October, 1 and 2 November). New York: Parke-Bernet Galleries. 1950
- 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
- Horner, Charles F. The Life of James Redpath and the Development of the Modern Lyceum. New York: Barse and Hopkins. 1926
- Redpath, James, and George L. Fall. The Lyceum: Containing a Complete List of Lecturers, Readers, and Musicians for the Season of 1870–71. Vol. 1, July. Boston: Redpath and Fall. 1870
- 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
- University of California, Mark Twain Papers, The Bancroft Library, Berkeley
- Howells, William Dean. “Ralph Keeler.” Atlantic Monthly 33 (March): 366–67. 1874
No copy-text. The letter is reconstructed from five partial transcripts, each of which derived independently from the MS:
Will Clemens evidently transcribed the P1 text from the MS before 1900. Albert Bigelow Paine must have seen and transcribed the MS before 1912 when he published the short excerpt in P2, and he may have used the same transcription or made a second one before 1917, when he published the longer excerpts in P3. Both catalog texts were transcribed directly from the MS when it was advertised for sale, P4 in 1919 and P5 in 1950. P4 describes it as ‘A. L. S., (signed “Mark”), 2 pages, 4to, Elmira, N. Y., May 10, 1870,’ and P5 includes a similar description.
L4 , 128–129; Horner, 165–66; “Letters to James Redpath,” Mark Twain Quarterly 5 (Winter–Spring 1942): 19, in addition to texts listed under Copy-text.