31 July 1873 • Edinburgh, Scotland (MS: MHi, UCCL 00958)
I am afraid I am not able to help you. Mr. Bryant is not in any way connected with the N. Y. Times, but is a large owner in the N. Y. Evening Post.3explanatory note
I should think Joaquin Miller might have that signature (Longmans, his publisher4explanatory note—but his rooms are 11 Museum street). Or Robert Browning or Mr. Tennyson,5explanatory note maybe. G.Ⓐemendation W. Smalley, of the N. Y. Tribune bureau might know his London friends—is almost sure to. Then there is a volume (issued by Scribner I think, some 3 or 4 years ago) of selections from the whole world’s poets which contains Bryant’s autograph—the collection is compiled by Wh Ⓐemendation Bryant but I forget its title.6explanatory note Perhaps Mr. Trübner might know where to find a copy of that.7explanatory note Of course Mr. John Lothrop Motley must (Long’s Hotel) must have that signature, I should think. If he is not at Long’s Hotel now, Lord Houghton (37 Berkeley Square,) will know his address. If poets have a fellow feeling for each other, Mr.Ⓐemendation Bryant has surely sent copies of the book I spoke of to members of the guild on this side.
I thank you very much for the offer of introductory letters, but shall not need them as I am too busy resting to go into company.
Veitch’s was a first-class private hotel at 127 George Street, in the heart of the city (Baedeker 1901, 509–10).
Clemens may have been writing to Grenville Howland Norcross (1854–1937), a lawyer and avid autograph collector who eventually bequeathed this letter to the Massachusetts Historical Society. Norcross was only nineteen years old in 1873, however, and still a student at Harvard, so it seems implausible that he would offer Clemens the “introductory letters” alluded to in the final paragraph. The greater likelihood is therefore that he purchased the letter from a dealer.
William Cullen Bryant (1794–1878) had been the editor of the New York Evening Post since 1829, and a half-owner in it since 1836. For thirty years he took an active role in managing the paper, although by 1869 he had greatly relaxed his control over it.
Miller had published Songs of the Sierras (1871) and Songs of the Sun-Lands (1873) through the London firm of Longmans, Green, Reader, and Dyer. His most recent work, Life amongst the Modocs, had just been issued by Richard Bentley and Son.
Alfred Tennyson (1809–92) had been poet laureate since 1850, when he succeeded Wordsworth. It is not known whether Clemens had met him. Lord Houghton evidently introduced Tennyson, a close friend of his, to Joaquin Miller in the summer of 1873, and might have introduced him to Clemens as well (Pope-Hennessy, 56–59, 217, 236; Marberry 1953, 115; see 15 Dec 73 to Tennysonclick to open link, and 16 Dec 73 to OLC, n. 3click to open link).
A Library of Poetry and Song (New York: J. B. Ford and Co., 1871), which Bryant compiled, contained his portrait, with a facsimile of his signature, as a frontispiece.
Nikolaus Trübner (1817–84) was a prominent London publisher, bibliographer, and oriental scholar who had taken an early interest in reprinting American writers, such as Charles Leland.
References
- Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston
- 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
- American Art Association. The Renowned Collection of the Late William F. Gable of Altoona, Pennsylvania. Part 4. Sale of 10 and 11 March. New York: American Art Association. 1924
- Baedeker, Karl. London and Its Environs. Leipzig: Karl Baedeker. 1900
- Pope-Hennessy, James. Monckton Milnes: The Flight of Youth, 1851–1885. London: Constable and Co. 1951
- Marberry, M. M. Splendid Poseur: Joaquin Miller—American Poet. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company. 1953
MS, Norcross Collection, Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston (MHi).
L5 , 422–424; AAA 1924, lot 549, excerpts.
The MS, offered for sale in 1924 as part of the collection of businessman William F. Gable (1856–1921), was bequeathed to MHi in 1937 by Grenville Howland Norcross.
More information on provenance may be found in Description of Provenanceclick to open link.