20 July 1871 • Elmira, N.Y. (AAA 1925, lot 28; MTL , 1:189–90, UCCL 00638)
RedpathⒶemendation tells me to blow youⒶemendation up. Here goes!Ⓐemendation I wanted youⒶemendation to scare Rondout off with a big price. $125 ain’tⒶemendation big. I got $100 the first time I ever talked there & now Ⓐemendation they’veⒶemendation a much larger hall. It is a hard town toⒶemendation get to—I run a chance of getting caught by the ice &Ⓐemendation missing next engagement.Ⓐemendation Make the price $150Ⓐemendation, &Ⓐemendation let them draw out.1explanatory note
Rondout agreed to pay $150 for Clemens’s lecture on 22 November. His previous appearances there had been on 2 December 1868 and 12 January 1870 (Redpath and Fall 1871–72, 5–6; L2 , 423; L3 , 486).
Adopted readings followed by ‘(C)’ are editorial emendations of the source readings.
References
- American Art Association. The Renowned Collection of the Late William F. Gable of Altoona, Pennsylvania. Part 6. Sale of 8 and 9 January. New York: American Art Association. 1925
- Paine, Albert Bigelow, ed. Mark Twain’s Letters. Edited by Albert Bigelow Paine. 2 vols. New York: Harper and Brothers. 1917
- 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
- Redpath, James, and George L. Fall. Notebook containing Clemens’s lecture itinerary for 1871–72 in the hand of George H. Hathaway of the Boston Lyceum Bureau. MS of sixteen pages entitled “Lecture-route, winter of 1871” and annotated by Clemens. Accompanied by its own black leather wallet, which is engraved in gold on an interior flap “Sam’l L. Clemens,” CU-MARK. 1871–72
- SLC (Samuel Langhorne Clemens). Mark Twain’s Letters, Volume 2: 1867–1868. Edited by Harriet Elinor Smith, Richard Bucci, and Lin Salamo. The Mark Twain Papers. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. Also online at MTPO[bib32371]. 1990
- 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
No copy-text. The text is based on two transcripts, each of which derives independently from the MS:
The rationale for emendations to remove MTL styling is given in Description of Texts. P2 introduces the letter as “Elmira, July 20, To Friend Fall, reading in part.”
L4 , 437.