27 June 1871 • Elmira, N.Y. (Paraphrase and transcript: MTMF , 154 n. 3, UCCL 00625)
paraphrase: Livy regrets that her husband is too busy to write, and to make the promised visit to Cleveland the first of next month. 1explanatory note Mr. Clemens feels that it will be a month or six weeks before his book will be finished.
P. S. I have hoped through thick & thinⒶemendation, that we would have our holiday with you, but it ain’t any use—I have lost so much time that I am obliged to give it up. This book has been dragging along just 12 months, now, & I am so sick & tired of it.2explanatory note If I were to chance another break or another move before I finish it I fear I never should get it done.
The trip had been planned in January (12 Jan 71 to OLCclick to open link).
Although Clemens had announced his decision to “do up Nevada & Cal.” on 15 July 1870, he had not begun writing Roughing It until late August. And there had been several long interruptions since then (15 July 70 to OCclick to open link; 4 Sept 70 to Blissclick to open link).
References
- SLC (Samuel Langhorne Clemens). Mark Twain to Mrs. Fairbanks. Edited by Dixon Wecter. San Marino, Calif.: Huntington Library. 1949
- 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. “Escol Sellers from Uncharted Space: A Footnote to The Gilded Age.” American Literature 34 (March): 107–13. 1962
Paraphrase and transcript, MTMF , 154 n. 3.
L4 , 418–419; Hill , 54, brief excerpt.
In 1949, Wecter wrote in MTMF that the letter “dated June 27, is found in the T. N. Fairbanks Collection”; its present location is not known.
More information on provenance may be found in Description of Provenanceclick to open link.