25 February 1873 • Hartford, Conn. (MS: CtY-BR, UCCL 00875)
Str StirⒶemendation Frank up—he is getting 3 or 4 weeks behindhand with his statement.1explanatory note
Man in New York wants permission to print a hundred copies or so of the Jumping Frog, “merely for distribution among friends.” He don’t say how many he wants to print for sale, though!2explanatory note
letter docketed: ✓ and S. L. Clemens | Hartford. Feb. 25. 1873.
Frank Bliss often sent Clemens the American Publishing Company’s quarterly royalty statements.
Clemens was the sole owner of the rights to his first book, The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, And other Sketches (SLC 1867), having purchased the copyright from its publisher, Charles H. Webb, in December 1870 ( L4 , 269, 274, 281). The person seeking permission to reprint it has not been identified.
References
- Yale University, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, New Haven, Conn.
- 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 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
- Webb, Charles Henry [Inigo, pseud.]. “Letter from Twain’s Publisher.” Letter to the editor dated 9 May. Brooklyn Eagle, 11 May, 3. 1867
- SLC (Samuel Langhorne Clemens). The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, and Other Sketches. Edited by John Paul. New York: C. H. Webb. 1867
- 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, Willard S. Morse Collection, Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University (CtY-BR).
L5 , 300–301.
The MS is laid in a first edition copy of The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County (C. H. Webb, 1867); the Morse Collection was donated to CtY in 1942 by Walter F. Frear.
More information on provenance may be found in Description of Provenanceclick to open link.